| Additional Information: | 2021: This property also contains a Tudor Revival church constructed in 1929 as the Memorial Evangelical Church with additions in 1956, 1963, and 1994. This building is located west of the 1858 church and cemetery and is separated from these resources by a paved parking lot. The 1929 church is irregular in plan with brick walls and a steeply-pitched, asphalt-shingled gable roof. The front elevation faces west and is asymmetrical in composition with the original entrance located in the base of a crenelated tower at the southern end of the façade. This entrance consists of a pair of heavy wood double doors set within a Tudor arched recess; this is flanked by buttresses that accentuate the corners of the tower. North of the tower, in the west wall of the main building mass, are five, regularly-spaced Tudor arched stained glass windows. These feature stone tracery, sills, and surrounds and are separated by brick buttresses with stone caps. North of this is a pair of projecting bays with steeply-pitched gable roofs at perpendicular angles to the main building mass. Constructed as an extension of the church building in 1963, these bays feature brick lower levels with upper stories clad in decorative half-timbering. A doorway in the northernmost bay features a tabbed stone surround. Windows in the upper stories of each bay are diamond-paned casements. A brick-veneered Sunday school addition was constructed in 1954 at the building’s southern elevation; a new entrance wing was added to the eastern wall of this addition in 1994. Note: When this building was evaluated in 2013, it was recorded as Neo-Gothic in style; however, due to the building's repeated use of Tudor arches, decorative half-timbering, and casement windows, it may be more accurately described as Tudor Revival in style.
2013- "This religious complex consists of an 1858 church (AHI#226153); a 1929 church (with a 1954 Sunday school wing, a 1964 chancel expansion and a 1994 entrance addition, AHI#226154); a circa-1940 parsonage and garage (AHI#226155 and 226156, respectively); as well as a cemetery (AHI#227884). The 1858 church is located at the northeast corner of the property and was moved in 1963 from its original location along W. Forest Home Avenue. Constructed of cream city brick, the gabled facility is oriented on an east-west axis, with its single-door entry located along its west gabled endwall. A two-step, wooden stoop and railing fronts the door. The south elevation of the structure carries a series of three, twelve-over-twelve-light, double-hung windows (with protective covering), while the north elevation includes a single, human-scale doorway. A cemetery is located adjacent to the building and extends to the south and includes about 100 burials.
Oriented on a north-south axis and along S. 52nd Street is the 1929 church (3450 S. 52nd Street). The original entrance is located in the crenelated tower portion of the structure, which was originally the south terminal point of the building. A Gothic-arched opening with a pair of wooden doors is located along the tower’s first level, while a pair of one-over-one-light sash windows occupies the second level. Patterned brickwork and stone trim adorn the tower which features brick corner buttressing. Each of the five bays of the nave is demarcated by additional brick buttressing and each bay carries a Gothic-arched window with tracery. The structure terminates at its north end with a pair of faux stucco and half-timber-finished, gabled wing additions that expanded the chancel in 1963. A two-story and raised basement, brick-faced school addition (1954) extends from the building’s south end. Horizontal-pane windows and stone trim remains intact. In 1994, a brick-faced entrance wing (with elevator) was added to the church at the rear.
South of the 1929 church stands the circa-1940 parsonage (3480 S. 52nd Street), which is a brick-faced, one-and-one-half-story, side-gabled house with minimal stone trim. Multiple-light, double-hung sash windows are location throughout the house. Vinyl has been applied to the roof dormer, as well as to the upper-half-story addition. A one-and-one-half-story, front-gabled, two-car garage with clapboard siding and replacement garage doors is located to the rear of the rectory and oriented on a north/south axis. A pair of six-over-six-light windows occupies the gabled peak.
The first church built on this property was erected of logs in 1844 and is noted as the first congregation in Wisconsin of the Evangelical Association, known as Zion Evangelical Association Church. A cemetery was created on the property a short time thereafter, with the first documented interment occurring in 1846 (that of Leonard Wiler (b. 1775). In 1858, the subject cream city brick church was built on the property; however, along present-day W. Forest Home Avenue (former Janesville Plank Road). In 1928, the Layton Park Evangelical congregation (known as Emmanuel) sold their church edifice, merged with Zion Church to form Memorial Community (Evangelical) Church and built a new church at the S. 52nd Street location (in 1928, the word “Association” was dropped from the congregation’s name). In 1940, a parsonage was built south of the 1929 church, as was a garage. Both the 1929 church and the parsonage were designed by Milwaukee architect Edward A. Erdmann. The 1858 church remained in its original location along W. Forest Home Avenue until 1963, when it was moved further east on the parcel and adjacent to the cemetery in order to make way for the 1964 expansion of the 1929 church sanctuary. As of 1940, the 1858 church has served as a museum for the Conference denomination, the name of which has changed twice with the successive mergers to form the Evangelical United Brethren and, later, United Methodist—which is reflected in its current name, Memorial United Methodist Church. In 1994, a new rear entrance addition was completed and, the following year, the 1858 church and the cemetery were designated as a Milwaukee County Landmark."
- "W Morgan Ave, W Forest Home Ave to S 43rd St", WisDOT ID #2405-00-04", Prepared by Heritage Research, Ltd (Schnell) (2013). |
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| Bibliographic References: | Esther L. Fisher, A Brief History of the City of Greenfield, 1841-1976, 82, A partial list of interments is available online at www.linkstothepast.com, Accessed in April 2014. Congregation members confirmed that Mr. Wiler was indeed the first documented interment in the cemetery, Don Reid, Janet Reid and Don Klochow, longtime Memorial Church members and Wisconsin Conference Museum members, Conversation with Traci E. Schnell, 6 December 2013, Notes on file at Heritage Research, Ltd., Menomonee Falls, WI; County landmark designation information for the “Zion Kirche and Cemetery,” 3450 S. 52nd Street, Available online at http://www.milwaukeehistory.net/historic-sites-2/county-landmarks; Edward A. Erdmann, “Church Edifice for the Memorial Evangelical Congregation,” Original plans, no date, In possession of the Memorial United Methodist Church, Greenfield, WI; Permit for chancel expansion, 7 August 1963, architectural firm cited as Architects III, estimated cost, $80,000; Permit for rear entrance addition (including elevator), 15 August 1994, architect noted as Heisler, estimated cost, $140,000, all permit information (cited here and hereafter) on file at the Department of Building Inspection, City of Greenfield, WI. |
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