Collection II-1900 - Menno Mennonite Church (Ritzville, Wash.) Records

Menno Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church USA), located at 1378 N. Damon Road, 20 miles (32 km) west of Ritzville, and 19 miles (30 km) northwest of Lind in Adams County, eastern Washington, a member of the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference, was organized in 1879 near Freeman, South Dakota, with J. R. Schrag and Joseph Kaufman as elected ministers. In 1888 Schrag and a number of families moved west to Polk County, near Dallas, Oregon. In 1891 they settled near Eugene, OR, and in 1900 the entire congregation moved by covered wagon to their present location, where they pioneered on homestead land. The first church, built in 1908, was replaced by a modern structure in 1950. A new parsonage was completed in 1952. The membership of the congregation in 1954 was 164, mostly rural, and living within a radius of 20 miles of the church. Other ministers who served thischurch through the 1950s included John Waltner, D. D. King, D. B. Hess, M. J. Galle, E. J. Miller, Willard Wiebe, Paul Boschman (assistant), and Lester E. Janzen. In 2005 the membership was 147; Terry Ray Rediger served as pastor.