LYON COUNTY GENEALOGY
FIRST APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH
The first Apostolic Christian Church was built in 1892 and 1893 by a small group of believers who had formerly met in homes. August Mogler came to America in 1885 at the age of 27 years. He farmed in Sioux County for two or three years before coming to Lyon County. The Augusta Messner family traveled from Wisconsin via oxen to join August at Sioux County and together they moved to the Lester area. Here they were befriended by Henry Klein, the Ernest Nester family and Louise Wenzel, and they met together to worship. August Mogler was their first minister.
In 1890 the Knobloch family came to Rock Valley by train and were met by Mother Knobloch’s brother Ernest Nester. Nester took them and their belongings by box wagon to their new home. The Knoblochs had sold their farm in Germany and had an auction sale for the other belongings. They sent the money to Nester to buy land. He bought them a 160 acre farm.
In 1891 the Jacob Moser family (of Swiss decent) moved here from West Bend, Iowa. The same year the Christopher Spohr, Fred Spohr and George Shellenberger families moved here from Elgin, Illinois. The following year the families of Fred Huber, John Nessler, Will Graf, George Schaaf, Fred Merz, Jacob Schmidgall and Libbie Goll arrived and a few years later the Chris Moser, August Greiner, Gottlob Rieber, Will Miller and Bill Reber added to the congregation.
Will Messner donated land to build the first church building. With members and friends doing much of the actual work, building was begun in 1892. The first service in the new building was held in the spring of 1893. The deed to the land was recorded and filed in the Lyon County Courthouse January 2, 1896 and described as one acre in the Southeast Corner of the Southwest Quarter of Section 8, Cleveland Township.
In 1907, a kitchen addition was built on the north side of the original building, and a coal furnace was installed.
John Nester, son of the Ernst Nesters, and an infant of the Knoblochs were the first two buried in the cemetery which is on the church property.
During 1906 to 1913 families moved in and others moved away. In 1914 the church was incorporated. As the church continued to grow, it was evident that something had to be done to provide more room. Land was purchased on the northwest edge of Lester on February 12, 1948. Building was begun on a 42 x 72 structure. The title block and brick edifice was erected. The full basement was divided into dining room, kitchen, Sunday School rooms and restrooms. The auditorium seating capacity was 200.The congregation consisted of about 46 families. The first service in the new building was held July 3, 1949.
Many new families were created as the young people grew up, married and established their own homes. In 1962, a new committee was formed to make plans for expansion of the brick structure. It was decided to lengthen the structure to double its size, including a full basement. The new basement was used to accommodate the ever-growing Sunday School. The auditorium seating capacity was now 600. The addition to the building was completed in 1963. There were 70 families attending at that time.
In 1983 a new church building on Lester’s northeast side was built.