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Abundant Life Assembly Church -
1201 4th Avenue
 Print Listing
Historical Name -
St. Paul's Congregational Church
Style -
Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals/Tudor Revival
Built Year -
1917
State ID -
5WL2579
Description -
This Tudor Revival church is an asymmetrical two story brick masonry structure with a wood shingled multi-gable roof. Roof features include parpeted gable-ends and a brick chimney located on the south side. It has a brick foundation, a red brick exterior walls.
The defining elements of the structure are two towers with crenelated parapets located on the northeast and southeast corners. Both towers feature stepped corner buttresses and four-centered door surrounds double wooden doors. Stained-glass transom windows in the form of four-centered arches with tracey grace each entrance. The northeast tower stands three stories high, while the southeast tower is only two stories. Both towers feature paired vertically accentuated openings above the entrances. These openings feature stained glass windows in the lower portions with the upper portions filled with horizontal wooden slats.
All first and second level windows are stained-glass with brick drip-moldings and stone sills. The second level windows feature four-centered arches with tracery.
Historical Background -
St. Paul's Congregational Church was founded in 1905 by Germans from Russia who were brought to Greeley by the Great Western Sugar Company. During the 18th century, Germans emigrated to Russia's Volga River region at the invitation of Empress Catherine II. By the end of that century, push-factors, including tax pressure, the Marxist movement, and the 1905 Russo-Japanese War, caused the "Volga Deutch" to move to America. Members of this group came to Greeley after the construction of a Sugar Factory in 1902 in order to find work in the beet fields. As many Germans from Russia made permanent homes in Greeley, they sought a place of worship. In 1905, they formed "St. Paul's Christian Church," which was renamed "St. Paul's" in 1909.
After meeting for several years in private homes, the congregation built their first church at 213 11th Street. In 1909, they built another, larger edifice at the corner of 4th Avenue and 12th Street. Continued growth within the congregation necessitated the demolition of that church and the construction of the existing structure in 1915. Architecturally sympathetic enlargements were made in 1939 and 1956 (see Construction History).
St. Paul's served its members as a religious and cultural center. The German language was used for services exclusively from the church's inception through 1945. After WWII, the "mother tongue" was phased out slowly in favor of English sermons. However, German sermons were continued on a "part-time" basis until 1971.
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