West Boonville Evangelical Church - Boonville, MO - Victorian Style Architecture on Waymarking.com

County of church: Cooper County
Location of church: Ferry Rd., 2 miles W of Santa Fe Trail Rd., Boonville
Built: 1893
Architectural Style: Gothic Revival

"The first church service of the West Boonville Evangelical Church, "the little church in the Maples", was in October of 1893. Hugo Heintz owned the land on which the church and cemetery are now located. He donated the land to the church. And lived in the first house east of the church. The early congregation, which numbered over 200 has dwindled to less than fifteen members.

"The history of this congregation dates from the early immigration of Evangelicals into central Missouri from Germany in the mid-1800's. The old church records are written in classic German script and have not been translated at this time. The old tombstones are also inscribed in German. The use of English was not adopted until the 20th century.

"The West Boonville community was dependent upon ministers from Boonville until 1896. At that time it affiliated with St. John's Church in Billingsville when St. John's obtained its first full time Pastor, W.F. Herman. It is reported that Pastor Herman would come to West Boonville to conduct services on Sunday afternoons twice a month. Rev. Geraldine Grebe Bryant is the present minister.

"The Church building is 100 years old this year (1993), of white frame with dark green shutters on the gothic arched windows, and a bell tower with bell rung by pulling a heavy rope. The fishscale shingles and elongated capped arches are in the Eastlake style, a type seen in German builders' catalogues of the time. The pinnacle at the top of the spire is a miniature of the "zwiebel" or onion domes seen in central Europe.

"Heating is provided by a wood-burning "box-stove" #4 of the G.F. Filley Company of St. Louis. The top section was manufactured by the Henderson Company. It is a long fitted pipe shape open at each end to release the heat and warm the high ceilinged building.

"The light is provided by the original oil lamps now wired for electricity." ~ Cooper MoGenWeb