Batavia's Bethany Lutheran Church Celebrates 150th Anniversary

BATAVIA, IL — What started as a gathering of Swedish immigrants at a two-story home in Batavia has grown into one of the city’s oldest church congregations that is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

City officials on Sunday gathered on the front steps of Bethany Lutheran Church for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The ceremony is one of several celebratory events that is scheduled for this year, the church said.

Bethany Lutheran Church was originally founded by 53 people at a home on South Jefferson Street, where 36 adults, 14 young men and three young women first gathered in 1872, according to the church’s website. In just more than six months, the church was organized, property was purchased, and a church was built at the site of a former school.

According to the church’s history, the contract to purchase the property was signed on March 26, 1872 and alterations to make the school building suitable for use as a church were started.

The permanent church organization, "The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church of Batavia, Illinois" was effected on August 1, 1872, the remodeled church was dedicated on September 1, 1872, and the church was received into the Augustana Synod on September 26, 1872, the church website says.

On Sunday, members of the Batavia Chamber of Commerce along with Mayor Jeffery Schielke, Bethany’s senior pastor, Rev. Jeff Mikyska participated in the short ceremony.

Previously, during the worship service, Schielke read and presented a proclamation of well-wishes to the church on behalf of the city. A new hymn which composed to honor the anniversary debuted during the service, according to the Batavia Chamber of Commerce.

Since its beginnings in Batavia, the community-minded church became known for its focus on music and its outreach within the community.