![]() | ||
The Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church is a church in Mayville, Wisconsin, United States, formed by German immigrants, who, in 1846, arrived in Wisconsin from Nahausen, Prussia. Immanuel is the second oldest congregation in the South Wisconsin District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.
The group officially organized as a congregation on May 24, 1847, with Pastor Geyer of Lebanon, Wisconsin, providing word and sacrament ministry. The church has no record of the organizational meeting or a list of the charter members of the congregation, but from land claims filed in October of 1846, we find the following names: Friedrich Jagow, Johann Friedrich Fellwock, Michael Saase, Sr., Carl Jesse, Friedrich Schwann, Friedrich Kuehl, William Braasch, Gottlieb Braasch, Friedrich Christian, Carl Schwantes, Christlieb Schwantes, Michael Zimmermann, Michael Budahn, Wilhelm Milbrot, and Carl Bannenberg. The congregation split – not long after its founding – on account of doctrinal controversy, and the two congregations (both retaining the name Immanuel) were distinguished from one another as the "lower church" and the "upper church" throughout much of their history. The lower church was also referred to as the "River Church" on account of its location on the banks of the Rock River, and the upper church was nicknamed the "Hochheim" congregation. The two congregations remained separate for 103 years. After the Hochheim church was twice destroyed by fire, the congregations amalgamated in 1957 at the "River Church" location.
Both congregations operated Christian Day Schools. The lower church founded in 1847, opened their dayschool in an official capacity in 1855. Immanuel Lutheran School, Mayville, Wisconsin has been in continual operation ever since.