St. Paul UCC, St. Louis

(ESNA—Evangelical Synod of North America)

Genealogical Data

The following records from this congregation are available:

Baptisms from 1847 to 1850 and 1863 to 1921

Confirmations from 1866 to 1935

Marriages from 1849 to 1850 and 1852 to 1976

Deaths from 1847 to 1850 and 1864 to 1958

StLGS is following state guidelines for privacy wherever possible. Births/baptisms online must be at least one hundred years old; confirmations eighty-six years old; marriages forty-five years old; and deaths fifty years old. Additional indexed data from these records is available; please come to the StLGS office to view it. As privacy limits permit, society volunteers will post additional data online.

History

Established in 1848; still open in 2021

This was the third Evangelical congregation in St. Louis. It began with a small group of families led by Rev. Adolph Baltzer, who left his position at St. Marcus Evangelical Church to become the pastor of the new St. Paul’s Evangelical Church. Within a year, the group needed more space. They purchased land at Ninth Street and Lafayette Avenue and dedicated their new church in February 1850.

The congregation prospered in the years leading up to the Civil War. They installed a pipe organ, built a parsonage, and purchased land on Gravois Road for a cemetery. In 1874, they built a larger church on the original site.

St. Louis City was hit by a destructive tornado in May 1896 that caused massive damage to the church; only a portion of the sanctuary was left standing. Again, within a year, they had rebuilt.

By the turn of the twentieth century, the neighborhood in which St. Paul’s was located had changed, and many of the congregants had moved. They made the decision to open a branch church and Bible school on South Grand Avenue while they looked for a more permanent home. They bought land in 1911 at Giles and Potomac Streets in St. Louis City, erecting first a portable chapel and, in 1923, a church hall and education building. They used their original church until selling it in 1924 and moving to the Giles Street location.

Finally, in 1932, they built an award-winning sanctuary, much larger and more ornate than previous ones. The name of the congregation changed from St. Paul’s Evangelical to St. Paul UCC in 1957 when the Evangelical and Reformed Church joined with Congregational Churches to form the United Church of Christ. The church remains open and active in its current location.

Address: 3510 Giles Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63116

Telephone: 314-772-4772

Website: https://www.stpauluccstl.org

Location 1850–1910: 1808 S. Ninth Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63104

GPS (Latitude, Longitude): 38.609383,-90.2055827   View Map

Location 1911–present: 3510 Giles Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63129

GPS (Latitude, Longitude): 38.5937574,-90.2479489  View Map

Photo © 2011 Eden Theological Seminary Archives
(Used with permission)

Photo © 2011 Eden Theological Seminary Archives
(Used with permission)