and the assassination of President Lincoln had occurred the preceding year, and the Union Pacific Railroad constructed westward from Omaha reached Columbus. Amid the accompanying struggles for survival and growth early settlers had seen the need to establish religious communities. The opportunity for children to have religious training was provided, and one year earlier a nondenominational Sunday school was formed and proved popular. From this outgrowth the first Congregational Church was organized on October 14, 1866.

The Congregational Church began with a membership of six. It grew out of the meetings formed during the previous year by the Congregational Society of Columbus. Although similar in names, the Congregational Church and the Congregational Society of Columbus were two distinct entities. The latter was strictly nondenominational and formed for the purpose “to promote the cause of morality and religion…and to provide suitable church buildings.” Among its members were those who were not interested in affiliating with a denominational church. Mr. Christensen states in his book, “The relationship of the two groups might best be described as one organization within another—the denominational Congregational Church within the nondenominational Congregational Society.” The two existed side by side after the organization of the Congregational Church until the Society declined and finally merged some twenty years later.

It would be four months after the Congregational Church was established that their first church building was dedicated, February 3, 1867. As in the formulation of early religious meetings, the Society provided the impetus for the construction of the first church building. It was done so with the help of a donation to the Society by the city fathers in 1865 of two lots for erecting a building with the stipulation of January 1, 1867, for the completion date. Construction proceeded on what is now 22nd Avenue, between 9th and 10th Streets. The building came to be known as the Congregational Church, with the Congregational Society of Columbus existing alongside. For over a decade this modest building served as the first home to the Congregational Church. Then early in the year 1879 as the membership continued to grow and prosper, discussions began to consider a new building on a lot east of the current structure.

Early records of the Congregational Society and the Congregational Church have been lost. However, the Rev. E. M. Lewis served as the first pastor for the Society in 1865. It is not known how long he remained. The Rev. Reuben Gaylord, a Congregational pastor from the east who served an Omaha church, helped to establish other churches in Nebraska and occasionally came to Columbus to preach for the Congregational Society. He also made significant contributions in effecting the construction of the first building by making trips from Omaha to Columbus while work was under way. It was with his assistance that the Congregational Church organized on October 14, 1866.

Four years after the Congregational Church was formed, the Presbyterian Church came into being in Columbus in 1870. The pioneering efforts of Rev. Sheldon Jackson in the early beginnings of the Presbyterian Church paralleled those of Rev. Reuben Gaylord in the Congregational Church origins. Both men were pastors, missionaries, and builders of churches. Rev. Sheldon Jackson’s work to establish a Presbyterian Church began a year earlier in the spring of 1869 when he was appointed Superintendent of the Presbytery of Missouri River. His assignment was to develop the mission field opening in the west. The territory he was assigned extended from Western Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado to Utah. In the days of primitive transportation, carrying on work over an area of such size might understandably pose some problems. Nonetheless, Rev. Jackson set out to undertake the task that lay before him.