Zion to celebrate its 155th anniversary

By Editor | June 3, 2025 |

FIRST PHOTO of the current church, circa 1908.

SANCTUARY of the current church, circa 1908.

ZION UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, rural Arthur, as it stands today.

It was supposed to be a 150th Anniversary Celebration five years ago, but COVID had something to say about that. So, on Sunday, June 8, Zion United Church of Christ in rural Arthur is having a special worship service at 10 a.m. to commemorate its founding in 1870. The public is invited to attend.

It might be surprising to think that the German Revolution of 1848 was a driving force behind the founding of Zion church, but the failure of the uprisings and protests to bring about a more democratic government brought about mass emigration from the region, causing approximately 5 million Germans to come to America seeking a better life.

Among those immigrants were several families from the heavily disputed area of Schleswig-Holstein, and these independent-minded people settled into the Bourbon and Garrett townships area of Douglas County.

Retaining their customs and language, their arrival into the area, then called the Bush because of the heavy-wooded landscape, predated the founding of nearby local towns.

It might be considered that Zion is actually 10 years older than the traditionally recognized founding year of 1870, for the groundwork was laid to establish a church in 1860.

The Rev. Loeffler of Champaign, who had also come from the Schleswig-Holstein area, was asked to visit and it was decided to hold services in someone’s home every four weeks.

Then on February 17, 1870, a committee met in the home of Henry Heerdt to see about the building of a church. This marks the founding date of Zion Church.

This first building closely resembled a one-room schoolhouse and, for practical reasons, in addition to being used for church services, the building was also used as a parochial school.

In the year 1892, the congregation made plans to build a larger and nicer church. The first building was moved north of the original site and converted into a schoolhouse permanently, and a second church building was erected where the first church had stood. The second church was a wood-frame building, and it had a beautiful tower containing two bells to call the people to church. This building was dedicated on November 12, 1893.

Lightning struck the church on August 7, 1907, at about 2:30 in the morning. A fire quickly filled the church’s bell tower, and within an hour, the building had burned to the ground.

The very same morning that the second church had burned down, the congregation gathered and decided to build another church. On October 30, 1907, the cornerstone was laid, and on March 22, 1908, the current church building was dedicated.