History
A long heritage of faith
The Apostolic Christian Church at LaCrosse, Indiana was established soon after engineers changed the course of the Kankakee River. The territory south of LaCrosse was formerly a large swamp that was subsequently converted into productive farmland. The original river, a few miles south of LaCrosse, made a great winding course instead of flowing in a straight direction. This natural course flooded the lands as far north as LaCrosse.
In the early 1900s the LaCrosse Land Company purchased this large swamp area from the state of Indiana. They dredged a new river and bypassed the natural winding “bottleneck.” A drainage system for the entire area was installed, and farms and roads were laid out in this former swamp. This new farming area drew interest from many out-of-state buyers. Following World War I, prices of land soared, especially the fertile lands in Illinois. This together with the effective promotion by the LaCrosse Land Company, resulted in several Apostolic Christian families buying the “swamp” land and beginning farming operations.
The Apostolic Christian Church of LaCrosse made its beginning by a small group of brothers and sisters mostly from Illinois moving to this area. At that time, this part of Indiana had not been established and populated nearly as long as the areas in Illinois where these brothers and sisters had lived. This area, being as new as it was, offered many opportunities in agriculture. The first families moved to the area in 1914 and 1915 and established farms in the LaCrosse and Kouts area. There was no church building at this time, so these families attended worship services at The Apostolic Christian Church of Francesville whenever possible and in each other’s homes when it was not.
In 1916, this small body of 21 members decided to erect a church building at the south end of LaCrosse in the form of a home, trusting that when the Lord added his blessing with enough members, a larger church building would be erected, and the current building could be sold as a residence.
A strong body of Christian love prevailed and tied this small church closely together. Although the Lord always blessed them with sufficient food and raiment, there was not a flourishing era of prosperity at that time, which made the spiritual blessings so much more precious.
When the Great Depression hit in 1929, it also affected the church in LaCrosse and the economy was extremely difficult. It is estimated that over half of the families in the congregation were unable to make their farm payments and lost ownership of their farms during these turbulent years. Some continued to live on the farms and pay rent. Some of these families were able to buy their farms back later for a lower price. And some moved off the farms and found different sources of income or moved out of the area completely.
Although times were very difficult no one remembered being without food. When asked the state of the church during this time, Elder Bro. Ed Frank said the church was “Very united. All we had was faith.”
By 1938, 22 years after the first church building had been built, the blessing of the Lord which the church had hoped and prayed for, became a reality. The current church building was too small and there was a great need for more worship space.
In Cissna Park IL, there was a town Apostolic Christian Church and a larger country Apostolic Christian Church. The attendance in the town church had dwindled and the remaining congregation decided to merge with the country church. Because of the many close ties between Cissna Park and LaCrosse church congregations, the building was dismantled, the boards were numbered, and the deconstructed building was loaded onto multiple wagons and transported to LaCrosse. The convoy was in transit for four days, and the reconstruction began just north of the original church building. Dedication services were held on September 11, 1938.
In 1963 the church decided to build a new church building, due to inadequate facilities within the church, and the present building not having the potential for extensive improvements. The Kritch property in the southwest part of LaCrosse was purchased. The new building was started in the summer of 1965. On October 16,1966, the new and current church building was occupied for the first time for worship services.
Over the years since the “new” church was built, there have been many families that have come and gone. Although LaCrosse is still very much a rural community, we have seen the congregation change from people whose livelihoods were nearly 100% farming and agriculture related to people who have many occupations. There have been births and deaths, baptisms and weddings, happy celebrations, and sad farewells. We are grateful for our church family and appreciate the love we share. In the over 100 years of worship, the Word has gone forward in Jesus’ name and many souls have felt conviction for sin, found the grace to repent, and the church has been a haven for working out their soul's salvation in many individual lives. We are thankful for the young, the old and everyone in between that currently attends our church. We are not a large congregation, but we feel the love of Christ within our midst, and we are thankful for this.
Our prayer is that our LaCrosse Church can continue to proclaim the messages of salvation and truth for many years to come or until the Lord returns in power and might and that we will be ready to meet him when he comes or when he calls us Home.
Note: The above history with additions and omissions was taken from the LaCrosse Centennial Celebration book which was published in 2016. The author notes that they used the following books as sources. The “Marching to Zion” Klopfenstein 2008 and the church dedication book.
For thou, O God, hast heard my vows:
thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.
Psalms 61:5