Wednesday, September 15, 1999
Congregation reflects on its 150-year history
N.Ky. church founded by four German families
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT MITCHELL — Immanuel United Methodist Church celebrates 150 years of serving its Northern Kentucky congregations this weekend, at the same time looking back at its German immigrant heritage.
Shawn Cox, whose family dates back five generations in the Immanuel congregation, put together a brief history of the church with help from his mother, JoAnn (Due) Cox of Villa Hills, whose mother and grandmother were church members.
“My mom has notes and published articles going way back, and we were able to put together a church history because the family saved all of them,” said Mr. Cox, governmental affairs director for the Home Builders Association of Northern Kentucky.
Started in Covington
The roots of Immanuel United Methodist Church are in downtown Covington, where four German families started the church in 1849 when they purchased a small frame building on Craig Street.
According to church legend, the first Christmas tree in Covington appeared at what was originally known as The German Methodist Episcopal Church In Covington.
Two church members rowed across the Ohio River, cut a pine tree from a hillside of what is now Price Hill, and brought it back to the church, where it was decorated.
"God With Us'
The church eventually became part of what was known as the German Central Conference, which included all German-speaking Methodist Episcopal Churches in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Northern Kentucky. The Confer ence also founded Bethesda Hospital in Cincinnati.
Mr. Cox said the church had grown to more than 160 members by 1866, just after the Civil War, and a new church was eventually built at 10th and Russell streets and dedicated in 1876. The total cost was $27,000.
The growth also produced a new name for the church, “Immanuel,” which means “God With Us.” The church began to conduct worship services and Sunday school classes in English instead of German in the early 1900s, partially due to anti-German sentiment during World War I.
Ground was broken at the present site on Dixie Highway in 1949, and the first service was held on Sept. 17, 1950.
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