First Congregational Church (Waukesha, Wisconsin)

First Congregational Church is located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The core of the current church was built in 1867 and has been expanded and remodeled since. The church is also used as a church school. On January 30, 1992, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance. When First Evangelical Congregational Church of Prairieville (as Waukesha was then called) was organized in 1838, it was the first Christian congregation organized in Waukesha County. The members met in homes and the log school house until 1840, when they built a small frame church on the southeast corner of Maple and Wisconsin Avenues. This building was the first Congregational Church building in Wisconsin Territory. In the 1840s Waukesha became a center for antislavery sentiment, and some members of First Congregational were leaders, both in Waukesha and the Territory. In 1842 when Caroline Quarlls, who had escaped from slavery in St. Louis, found her way along the Underground Railroad to Waukesha, parishioner Lyman Goodnow drove her in a wagon under cover of night on her way to Ontario. In 1845, the congregation passed resolutions against slavery that received country-wide notice. In 1848 Ichabod Codding, who had edited the abolitionist newspaper American Freeman became pastor. A member of the congregation took his place as editor of the paper. In 1867 the growing con

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