GERMAN EVANGELICAL ZION CHURCH.
In the summer of 1893 a number of men, among them Rev. Nestel, of St. Joseph, Mo., who had received a special invitation, met at the home of August Manglesdorf, Sr., and organized a German Evangelical congregation. It was decided to have services in Odd Fellows hall. Rev. Nestel came over from St. Joe from time to time and conducted the services. In January, 1894, Rev. C. Stork, of Concordia, Mo., took charge of the congregation as their first own pastor. In 1894 two lots of land, at the northwest corner of Ninth and Santa Fe streets, were bought, upon which the church was built. In 1895 the congregation became a member of the German Evangelical Synod of North America. In the same year the parsonage was erected, and in 1908 a school building was added to the church. Besides Rev. Stork, the following ministers served the congregation: H. Limper, 1897 to 1901; C. Bechtold, 1901 to 1905; P. Stoerker, from 1905 to 1909, and Emil Vogt, the present pastor. Besides the annual donations for their own church, the members have spent $2,000 for home and foreign missions. The church has a Sunday school, a teachers’ training course, a choir, a Young People’s Society, and a Ladies’ Aid Society.