The Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1883. This area, including portions of Kearney, Phelps, and Harlan counties, once had the largest number of Swedish immigrants in rural Nebraska.
The original sod church was built in 1884. The present 1898 building shows the transition from Sweden to America both through its architecture and through the congregation's choice of denomination. The Carpenter Gothic building has an Akron-style floor plan. In addition to the sanctuary, it has a church parlor for social events and Sunday School classes.
The Salem congregation felt the Lutheran Augustana Synod was too much like the state church in Sweden, so they chose to organize as Methodists instead. Some founding members began as members of Bethany Lutheran Church, located southeast of Axtell, and of Fridhem Lutheran Church, originally located east of Funk. Rather than sharing a pastor, the congregation wanted their own minister. Their first pastor was Carl Charnquist, a Swedish Methodist circuit-riding minister recruited from Texas. The Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church complex was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
]]>Three German Lutheran congregations, Zion, Salem, and Emmanuel, built churches in Stillwater Precinct, Webster County, Nebraska. Emmanuel was the last to build and the last to disband. Emmanuel Lutheran Church was formally dedicated on this site, July 16, 1905. Services were conducted in German in the morning, and in English that afternoon. Worship in both languages continued, with German being used less frequently in later years.
The first recorded activity in the church records was the baptism of August Friedrich Blobaum, March 13, 1904. The last recorded service was February 2, 1952, with Communion being received by Augusta Degener, Corrine Degener, Frank Degener, John F. Degener, Robert D. Degener, Anna Scheiding, Edwin Scheiding, Clarence Schutte, Harold Schutte, Emma Stumpenhorst, William Stumpenhorst, and Fred Sundermeir.
The Emmanuel Lutheran Church was an inspiring structure in its day with its Christian cross, atop a sixty-foot steeple, rising above the prairie farmlands. In 1952 the building was moved to Rosemont to serve another congregation. The cemetery remains as Emmanuel's legacy to the Stillwater community.
]]>The St. Falconieri Catholic Church was built in 1883 of brick fired at Red Cloud. It served Red Cloud's Catholic congregation until 1906 when it was sold and converted into a private residence. Here, Annie Pavelka, the Antonia of Cather's well-loved novel My Antonia, was married, and here her first child was baptized. Restored and donated by the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation.
]]>Built in 1884 on the corner of Second and Walnut, the Grace Protestant Episcopal Church was moved to its present location in 1891. The brick veneer was added sometime after 1922. Willa Cather joined this church in 1922 and remained a loyal member until her death in 1947. The stained glass window "The Good Shepherd" on the north wall was given by Cather in memory of her father. Restored and donated by the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation.
]]>Religious institutions have played an important role in the history of Nebraska. During the frontier period, churches fulfilled both the spiritual and social needs of the early inhabitants. The Congregational Church was one of Nebraska's pioneer denominations. The Reverend Reuben Gaylord brought Congregationalism to Washington County in 1856 and the church operated an early institution of higher learning, the "Nebraska University" at Fontenelle, 1858-1872.
The Congregational Church of Blair was organized with eight communicants on February 10, 1870, less than a year after John I. Blair auctioned the original town lots a few blocks north of this site. For a time, the Reverend Marshall Tingley, who had come from Sioux City, conducted services in the courthouse or in private homes.
On November 22, 1874, a 28 by 40 foot sanctuary, characteristic of the Carpenter-gothic style of architecture, was dedicated on this site. Additions and improvements have occurred throughout the years but the original structure, along with many interior furnishings, has remained in use for more than a century as a center for worship and fellowship. The style and simplicity of this pioneer Congregational Church provides a fitting memorial to Washington County's religious heritage.
]]>Three years after the town of Arcadia was platted in October 1885, the First Congregational Church was organized on November 25, 1888, the second church in town. Articles of incorporation were recorded on December 2, 1889, and the building, costing $2,885, was dedicated in July 1890. The Reverend Howard Hitchcock was the first permanent pastor. A parsonage was erected in 1899. On July 9, 1904, a tornado damaged the church, which was repaired without the original steeple. In the spring of 1920 a new parsonage was constructed east of the church.
The longest serving pastor was the Reverend William Alcorn, from 1919 to 1929. During his pastorate the church added 258 members and held 20 weddings. By the 1970s membership had begun to decline, and in August 1998 the five remaining members voted to close the church, after 110 years of service to the community, and donate the building to Arcadia. Now known as "The Gathering Place," it is used for weddings, funerals, and other events. It is the oldest building on Main Street.
]]>St. Mary's Catholic Church was built in 1900 by Polish immigrants near Elyria. They came to Valley County in the early 1880s and attended services in Boleszyn, a Polish church ten miles away. When this church was destroyed by a tornado a dispute arose over the location of a new church. The bishop decreed that half the money for rebuilding should go to Boleszyn and half to Elyria. With the help of volunteers, St. Mary's was completed in time for Christmas Eve mass.
St. Mary's parish ranged from twenty to eighty families and was served by twelve priests before closing in 1982. Until 1953 sermons and prayers were in Polish. Parish records are preserved in the archives of Our Lady Of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Ord.
The original church bell was installed in 1904 and is now displayed in the cemetery. Names of some church founders are engraved on it. Four generations of parishioners are buried in the cemetery including veterans of Vietnam, Korea, and the two world wars.
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