The German Baptist Church of Bloomington, Illinois, was located at the southwest corner of West Locust Street and Western Avenue. It first appeared in the 1876-1877 City Directory as the German Baptist Chapel, with listings after 1880 identifying it as the German Baptist Church. Church membership consisted of German-speaking immigrants and remained small in number. A dwindling membership and anti-German sentiment aroused by World War I were contributing factors to the disbanding of the congregation in 1915. Some of the members joined the English-speaking First Baptist Church of Bloomington.
As of 1989, three original record books from the German Baptist Church were extant and kept at the First Baptist Church, 401 E. Jefferson Street, Bloomington, Illinois. There are two books of minutes and one book containing a membership roster. The minute books are, with a few minor exceptions, chronological in order and apparently kept in a timely manner. The roster book appears to have been started about June 1889 with much of the information submitted by the members themselves. Generally, the contents were written in the old German script, with only an occasional use of an English word. Spelling of names fluctuated greatly.
In the translation typescripts, an attempt has been made to follow the original spelling and punctuation, as well as to keep the words which appear on a page in the translation of that page. Words difficult to determine are marked with a footnote.
Note: This Brief History is taken from the Editor and Compiler’s Notes covering the typed translations of the minutes, written by Nola G. Marquardt of Carlock, Illinois, July 1, 1989. The translations were made by Dr. Else Schmidt, retired Professor of Geography at Illinois State University, and Albert Post, retired farmer of rural Flanagan, Illinois.