German Church of the Evangelical Association

[marcwigle]

Does anyone have info on this church? It was apparently located on Dubois at Catherine. I can find Dubois but I can't find Catherine so assume that the street has been renamed or removed. The minister lived at 305 Dubois so I assume that the church was there as well. There is nothing at 305 Dubois now except some type of warehouse on one side of the street and an industrial yard across from it with vehicles parked there.

My grandparents were apparently married there in 1924 but I can't find any records. The congregation may have moved as a black church moved in at some point and I believe the German church moved elsewhere from what I can find out. I found a website that mentions the church and the subsequent new congregation who moved in but nothing on what happened to the German church. I did find out that the United Church of Christ organization merged a bunch of denominations including a German one so they have some records.

Any ideas?

Marc

[gazhekwe]

Did you see this article on Wikipedia?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelical_Association

[EastsideAl]

Part of your problem is that Catherine was rennamed Madison sometime after the 1920s. Are you sure about the date you have? The Sanborn map from 1897 does indeed show a "First Church of Evangelical Association" at that corner. However, by the 1922 Sanborn it shows as "St. John's AME Church," which is indeed a black congregation.

Also, the address you have for the church is an "old" Detroit address. The addressing system was changed in the early 1920s. 305 Dubois = 1719 Dubois under the new system. But don't bother going looking for that address, since the entire neighborhood was demolished and the streets reconfigured in the mid-1960s for what is today the Elmwood Park neighborhood. Dubois St. no longer runs through there, and the area where that church was is now parkland.

[gazhekwe]

Could it have been affiliated with the Bethel Evangelical? Lots of records there.

http://bentley.umich.edu/research/gu....php?heading=9

Emmanuel-Bethel United Church of Christ [[Royal Oak, Mich.)

• Emmanuel-Bethel United Church of Christ records, 1880-1974.
• 7.5 linear ft.Formed in 1974 as a result of a merger between the Emmanuel United Church of Christ [[Royal Oak, Mich.), founded in 1874, and Bethel United Church of Christ [[Detroit, Mich.), founded in 1912. Both churches initially served an immigrant German population. Reinhold Niebuhr was pastor of the Bethel church from 1915 to 1928.
  Membership records, church council and congregation meeting minutes, records of church organizations, histories, publications, and photographs. The bulk of the records are from Bethel Evangelical and Reformed Church.

More info on your church and the one that followed it. At least we know where THEY went

http://detroit1701.org/North%20Woodw...%20Church.html

The first CME church in Detroit was a brick church located near the intersection of DuBois and Catherine on the near East Side that had been erected in 1883 for the First German Evangelical Association Church. Membership grew rapidly, thanks, perhaps, to the effective preaching of the pastor and the continued migration of southern blacks to work in the city’s factories. By 1920, a larger facility was needed, so the CME congregation purchased the former home of St. Mark’s English Evangelical Lutheran Church, also located near the intersection of Dubois and Catherine. The congregation used that facility until 1955 when they purchased the church that was vacated by the North Woodward Avenue Congregationalists.

[marcwigle]

Did you see this article on Wikipedia?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelical_Association

No, I haven't and thanks!

Marc

[Baselinepunk]

Jellies makes me tummy hurt!

[marcwigle]

Part of your problem is that Catherine was rennamed Madison sometime after the 1920s. Are you sure about the date you have? The Sanborn map from 1897 does indeed show a "First Church of Evangelical Association" at that corner. However, by the 1922 Sanborn it shows as "St. John's AME Church," which is indeed a black congregation.

Also, the address you have for the church is an "old" Detroit address. The addressing system was changed in the early 1920s. 305 Dubois = 1719 Dubois under the new system. But don't bother going looking for that address, since the entire neighborhood was demolished and the streets reconfigured in the mid-1960s for what is today the Elmwood Park neighborhood. Dubois St. no longer runs through there, and the area where that church was is now parkland.

I knew that there had to be something about Catherine St. I know that my grandparents were married in 1924 and that the minister was the same one as at the German Church... maybe the wedding was at their new location. I just checked the record where I got the original info... it was from an 1891 Detroit religious directory so obviously they moved at some point.

Where did you get the new street number for Dubois? I've only ever been able to find approximate numbers for the re-numbered streets that I've been searching for. My grandmother lived on two different addresses in Detroit but only one has an address that is on the new system. Thanks for all of the info!

BTW, are we able to access the Sanborn maps online?

Marc

[EastsideAl]

The 1920s Sanborn maps for Detroit, at least the central portions, generally contain both sets of addresses. The Sanborn maps are accessible online for free from some academic libraries if you have an affiliation with them. Otherwise, I think you have to pay.