Trinity Evangelical Lutheran

United Methodist

St. Fidelis Catholic

St. Peter's Lutheran

 
   

The Arenvzille churches welcome you! The village presently has four churches, each with a long history of serving the town's residents. However, before any of these churches were built, the village first had a small church in the town center:

From A Local History Collection of Arenzville, Illlinois by Theodore and Hester Ham Lovekamp:

"The first building for worship services was erected in 1839 and paid for by Francis Arenz on land donated by Mr. Arenz. It was located in the north west corner of the present village park. It was very small without steeple or porch, however, we have only [the] description as no picture is available. The building has always been referred to as the "little Union Church." As time passed and a teacher ws available for short periods of time, school was also held there.

The "little" building became too small. In 1866 a larger building was erected by the people in the south west corner of the village park. All denominations worshipped here -- Mormans excepted. The church building debt became too much to handle so the Presbyterian congregation paid the debt and the church was then known as the Presbyterian church. Other denominations continued to worship here provided the Presbyterians were not using it at the time.

Other congregations finally built their own churches and in 1905 the Methodist church was built, making the Presbyterian church totally Presbyterian.

In 1973 the church, which was the oldest in Cass County and was disbanded and torn down. Our little town was sad to see its passing but proud of the heritage its influence has had over the many years.

The church bell has been preserved in the town park, near the site of the church."

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This page last modified: 08/25/2023