Salem United Church of Christ - Rochester, NY
Posted by: 
sagefemme
N 43° 09.653 W 077° 36.563
18T E 287864 N 4781986
Originating as the German United Evangelical Church in 1874, through a series of mergers it has become the Salem United Church of Christ. A significant part of the German-American cultural development in Rochester, NY.
Waymark Code: WMDEN4
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 01/04/2012
Views: 3
This church was nominated and approved for the National Register of Historic Places, primarily for the architectural significance of the church and Sunday school wing by architect Charles Coots in 1874, followed by the refacing work of architectural firm Gordon and Kaelber in 1929. It does provide us some information about the congregation the church served, however. From the nomination form:
"In the early 1830's efforts were made to organize a German congregation that would serve the needs of German Protestants residing in the Village of Rochesterville. On November 17, 1833, the congregation was formally organized as the "Vereinigta Evangelische kerche" (United Evangelical Church). Internal dissension between Lutheran and evangelical elements, however, resulted ina split in the congregation. The German United Protestant Trinity Church, the mother of Salem, was organized in 1842, and their first church building was erected on Allan Street in 1847.
"The rapid influx of German immigrants into Rochester during the 1850s increased the communicant membership from 300 to 691 persons. By the early 1870s the congregation began searching for a site for a new church. A controversy over which side of the Genesee River the church should be built caused another split in the congregation. Members of the Trinity Church living on the east side of the river organized a church in April, 1873, under the name of "The German United Evangelical Church of Rochester, NY."
"In 1919, the corporate name of the church changed to "Salem Evangelical Church." A national merger in 1934 of the Evangelical Synod and the Reformed Church resulted in the Salem Evangelical and Reformed Church. In 1957, subsequent to the merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church with the Congregational Christian Church, the denomination became known as Salem United Church of Christ."
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