Property Record
903 E 2ND ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | St. Stephen's Evangelical Church |
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| Other Name: | St. Stephen's United Church of Christ |
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| Reference Number: | 42377 |
| Location (Address): | 903 E 2ND ST |
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| County: | Lincoln |
| City: | Merrill |
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| Year Built: | 1920 |
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| Additions: | 1957 |
| Survey Date: | 1991 |
| Historic Use: | church |
| Architectural Style: | Late Gothic Revival |
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| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | St. Stephen's Evangelical Church, of the German Evangelical Synod of North America, was one of Merrill's churches with a strong ethnic character. Organized in 1883, the congregation held services in John Boettcher's Hall (not extant), on the corner of River and Stuyvesant Streets, until they built a frame church (not extant) in 1884. Rehfeld and Hesterman added a brick veneer to the church in 1889, and a five-room parsonage on the south side of the church was built six years later. In 1900 the congregation moved the parsonage across the street on the hill and added several more rooms. Congregational growth also led to the 1904 addition of an altar niche and sacristy. When a December 16, 1919 fire destroyed the church, the congregation quickly built a new structure the next year. In 1934 the members adopted the name St. Stephen's Evangelical and Reformed Church, as a result of the merger of the national Evangelical and Reformed churches. The church erected an educational building for Sunday School and conferences and dedicated it as Memorial Hall (LI35/11) in 1939. As part of its seventy-fifth anniversary project in 1957, the church received an expanded basement, new Sunday School rooms, a new kitchen, choir room, studies for the pastors, and a new general office. Another merger with the Congregational Christian churches renamed the Merrill congregation as St. Stephen's United Church of Christ in 1957. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) "Seventy-fifth Anniversary of St. Stephen's United Church of Christ, 1883-1958." Unpublished pamphlet located at Merrill Historical Society. (B) Lincoln County Advocate, 22 June 1889. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |