Series Photo Collection 728 - Herschel Ebenfeld Mennonite Church photograph Collection

The Mennonites from Russia arrived in the Herschel area in the winter of 1924-1925. They organized their congregation in 1925 as the Ebenfeld Mennonite Church and joined the Conference of Mennonites. In 1926 there were 117 members. In 1927 they built a meeting house. In 1936 the membership was 278. A number of different meeting places were begun over the next decades. In 1945 a new meeting house was built in Superb, one of the four meeting houses of this 'Gemeinde'. The other meeting places were Fiske and Glidden, along with Herschel. These were divided into four congregations in 1958 but still of the Ebenfeld 'Gemeinde'. In 1973 these congregations became independent congregations. In 1980 the Ebenfeld congregation changed its name to the current (2001) Herschel Ebenfeld Mennonite Church. The leaders of the congregation were: Jacob Wiens (1925-1939), J. J. Thiessen (1939-1942)[visiting], Cornelius J. Warkentin (1943-1957) [and he remained bishop of the four congregations (1958-1970)]. Of the four congregations then from 1958 on, the leader of Herschel was the bishop Cornelius Warkentin (1958-1964), Arthur Wiens (1965-1985), David Neufeld (1986-1999), Claire and Garth Ewert-Fischer (2000- ). The leader of Fiske was K. Julius Martens (1958-1985). The leader of Glidden was C. J. Fast (1958-1970), when the congregation dissolved. The leader of Superb was P.A. Warkentin (1958-1973). Since 1990 the leader of Herschel has also been the leader in Fiske.