Guide to United Church of Christ congregations
in St. Louis City
and County
Compiled by Scott Holl, Assistant Librarian, Luhr Library, Eden Theological Seminary
Introduction
This guide offers brief historical information about St. Louis City and St. Louis County congregations founded by the United Church of Christ (UCC) or one of its predecessor denominations. Each entry includes—at a minimum—the name of the congregation, its founding denomination, the community or communities in which it is or was located, a brief chronology, and contact information if still in existence.
Access the guide through one of the indexes linked on the left side of this page.
Grateful appreciation is extended to Mr. Esley Hamilton, Preservation Historian, St. Louis County Parks & Recreation, for contributing research on UCC congregations and the architecture of their buildings.
See also "The United Church of Christ in St. Louis," a timeline showing the development of the congregations listed in this guide.
Notes for using this guide
St. Louis neighborhood designations
Listings for St. Louis City churches include neighborhood designations keyed to History of St. Louis Neighborhoods by Norbury L. Wagman.
Key to denominational abbreviations in the listings
CCC— General Council of Congregational Christian Churches, 1931-1957
Formed by the merger of the National Council of Congregational Churches and the Christian Connection in 1931. See "American Congregationalism: A Brief Historical Primer," available on the Congregational Library website, for more information.
CC—National Council of Congregational Churches, to 1931
Congregationalism ultimately dates from the the 16th century English Reformation and was brought to America by the Pilgrims in 1620. Congregationalists were originally loosely organized but created a more formal denominational structure in 1871. See "American Congregationalism: A Brief Historical Primer," available on the Congregational Library website, for more information.
E&R—Evangelical and Reformed Church, 1934-1957
Formed by the merger of the Evangelical Synod of North America and the Reformed Church in the United States in 1934.
ESNA—Evangelical Synod of North America, 1840-1934
The denomination dates from 1840 when a group of clergymen organized themselves as the German Evangelical Church Society of the West near St. Louis, Missouri. The Evangelical Synod united German Lutheran and Reformed traditions under one denomination. See "A Brief History of the Evangelical Synod of North America" elsewhere on this website.
Independent—Independent German Evangelical Protestants
Some congregations founded by German Protestants began as independent congregations with no or only tangental denominational ties. Most were eventually incorporated into one of the predecessor denominations of the United Church of Christ.
Reformed—Reformed Church in the United States, to 1934
The denomination dates from 1747 when German Reformed ministers organized a ministerium in Pennsylvania. See "The German Reformed Church" in "A Short Course in the History of the United Church of Christ" for more information.
"A Short Course in the History of the United Church of Christ " on the UCC website is helpful for understanding the place of each of these denominations in the history and formation of the United Church of Christ.
Updated January 17, 2007. Submit queries or report problems to the Assistant Librarian.