“There were families that had settled here and they wanted to have a church so they met in the home of Michael Shanibarger,” she said. “He opened up his house to have people come for worship, a circuit riding preacher could stop by … "We don't have any notes from that time, so we don't know if they met every Sunday, but they may have.”
The church moved to a log cabin located about 120 feet south of the current church building in 1818. A large rock marks the location of this building, which is no longer standing. Mt. Zion’s second building was constructed 90 feet south of the present-day site in 1832, with Rev. Francis Ruth as the pastor. At that time, Mt. Zion transitioned from a German Lutheran Church to an English Lutheran Church. Services originally were done in German. A third structure was built in 1866, which was destroyed by a fire Feb. 10, 1948. On that same site, the cornerstone for the present church edifice was laid in 1948, and the church was dedicated in 1950.
