A Short History of the Beginning

“New Year 1767, Alegheny Church, I began to serve,” wrote John Waldschmidt, the first Reformed minister of the newly founded Allegheny Church. Like many other churches in the area, Allegheny Church was established as a Union Church combining three denominations in one building: Reformed, Lutheran, and Mennonite. However, the Mennonite congregation withdrew from the union before 1800.

The Reverend Michael Schlatter, a Swiss minister, had been sent in 1746 by the Synods of North and South Holland to organize the Reformed Congregations in America. In 1751, he went back to Holland to request ministers for the area. The request granted, he visited Reformed Universities in Germany and Switzerland where he recruited six young men, among them the Reverend John Waldschmidt from Dillenburg, Germany.

The first Allegheny Church was a log building which stood half a block south of the present church. The log church measured 30 by 40 feet; it had two windows, but neither a floor or a stove was in the church. In 1800, the Reformed and Lutheran Congregations built a new structure on the present site.

In 1845, the Union Church was incorporated and chartered by the Berks County Courts under the name “The Independent German Associate Reformed and German Lutheran Church of Brecknock Township.”

The present church building was built in 1878 using local sandstone. Members of the congregation assisted in the construction and contributioed their time and materials. The cost of the building was less than $10,000.00.

Since the turn of the century, many improvements have been made to the church. In 1900, the church was frescoed and painted on the inside and outside. In 1939, the members excavated the ground under the church and a basement and educational facility was added. Between 1953 and 1955, ten memorial windows were installed. In 1956, the School House was purchased and is now known as the “Parish House” and is used for Sunday School, meetings, and social functions. Other renovations through the years have included the Narthex, a new Wurlitzer organ, carpeting and painting. In 1979, a railing was installed around the balcony and in 1982, Colonial Lighting was installed.

In 1957, The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational and Christian Church formed a union. The union of these two American denominations gave birth to a new denomination called the United Church of Christ. The Allegheny Reformed Church became the Allegheny United Church of Christ as a result of these denominations uniting and coveting together.