Historic
e ssential landmark
First Lutheran CHURCH
by Jeanne Engle The largest group of immigrants to relocate to Wisconsin during the 19th century came from Germany. Settlement was especially heavy in Wisconsin during the first wave of immigration around the middle of the century. Farmers came from the Mecklenburg region in northeast Germany to the Town of Middleton in Dane County.
Places in 1988. No longer part of any denomination, the “Little White Church on top of the hill,” actually not that little, is open to the public for weddings, memorial services, and other community events. Located at 711 N. Pleasant View Road, Middleton, the church can accommodate up to 250 people.
In 1852, 14 of the families founded the German Lutheran Church of Middleton. After meeting for two years in the homes of Gustav Polkow and Friederich Niebuhr, the congregation built a log church in 1854 on land donated by Niebuhr. As membership grew, the congregation decided to build a new church on land donated by Polkow. Thirty-one families provided materials and gave $82 each (the equivalent of about $1,350 today) for construction. In May 1866, the church was dedicated.
First Lutheran Church is a simple frame Greek Revival structure 32 feet wide by 90 feet long. One of the finest 19th century frame churches remaining in Dane County, First Lutheran has a gable roof slightly steeper than the standard Greek Revival. Surrounding the church on three sides is a cemetery where its founders and their descendants are buried. The gable end faces the street and is trimmed with returned eaves. The original cedar shingles on the roof are now covered with asphalt shingles.
That church, known today as First Lutheran Church, was added to the National Register of Historic
A graceful square steeple over the main entrance has an octagonal spire with a simple weather vane atop. The belfry
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enclosing the church’s bell, which is still used, has pointed arched openings on all four sides and Italianate brackets above the arches. A sloping roof flares out from the base of the belfry and is trimmed on each side with carved Gothic arches and spindles on each corner. The two sides of the church are nearly identical, with windows of the same design as the tall double-hung, six-oversix sash windows flanking each side of the front door. When the church was lengthened by 40 feet in 1885, windows were replicated in the addition, another entrance to the church was made on the south side, the outside steps under the bulkhead doors on the side and front of the church were removed, and the basement entrance sealed. The church’s interior is flooded with light because of its windows and whitepainted walls. The pews are simple pine seats that have been hand-grained to look like oak. The wood altar and pulpit, part of the 1885 remodeling, are painted
