Daughters of Zion

June 2025.

Columbus, Wisconsin’s Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church is an example of Milwaukee architect E. Townsend Mix’s eclectic designs. Designed in the High Victorian Gothic style, it is a simple L-plan church with one crossing. Zion Evangelical Lutheran is located at 254 West Mill Street, northwest of downtown Columbus, Wisconsin. It is bordered by single-family homes and Spring and Mill Streets.

History

The Zion Evangelical Lutheran congregation was founded in 1858 by German immigrants in Columbus, worshiping in a public school and a rented hall before building their own church a year later. The parcel that the existing church building sits on today was purchased in 1868, and the congregation’s original 1859 wood-frame church was moved there from its original site. As Zion Evangelical Lutheran continued to expand, they commissioned a larger church designed by E. Townsend Mix, and the older wooden church was moved off the site. Built in the High Victorian Gothic style using Wisconsin Cream City Brick and red brick accents, it features a 125-foot wooden tower on top of the gabled roof. The church was completed in 1878 at a cost of $5,000.

In 1885, a wooden house adjacent to the church was demolished for the construction of an Italianate parsonage, which is built of a similar brick. In 1887, the church received an addition to its north facade that housed a new sacristy and organ. It added small cross gables on the roof, but the building itself retained its L-plan. It is unknown who designed this addition, but it employs identical materials and details as the original church. The rear of the parsonage was expanded in 1903.

Recent alterations to the church include a shed-roofed addition onto the southwest corner, which was built between 1958 and 1978. The interior has been renovated multiple times, including in 1907, 1927, and 1957, meaning much of the finishes are unoriginal.

Photos

Oblique view of Zion Evangelical Lutheran in its entirety:

Several key High Victorian Gothic features are apparent here, such as the polychromy and more eclectic design. The peaked gable in back is from the addition. It is a very simple church compositionally, but it is ennobled by its ornamentation and quality of construction.

Many of the ornamental features are built as part of the brick walls, such as the corbelling beneath the eaves and vaulted windows. Red brick courses along the sills and hood molds emphasize the church’s horizontality. 

The south facade is dominated by its oversized central bay:

This wooden awning over the entrance is original to the building. Its paint is chipping off and the asphalt shingle roof is surely unoriginal, but it is in great condition.

Various details across the facade, including a wooden beam below the eaves:

The tower is technically out of scale with the rest of the building, but it works nicely in an eclectic manner. I’m unsure if the white paint is original or not.

Detail of the belfry:

Also nearby Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church is what the Sanborn map calls the “Welch” (Welsh?) Church. Google Maps marks it as the First Presbyterian Church, but that seems to be dubious. It is a cute, humble frame church:

I’m hoping to see more of E. Townsend Mix’s work in the future, because it’s similarly eclectic and fun.

Sources:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_WI/09000509.pdf

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4124cm.g095221915/?sp=3&st=image&r=0.421%2C0.105%2C0.301%2C0.159%2C0