YESTERYEAR: ST. LUCAS EVANGELICAL CHURCH CHOIR

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St. Lucas Evangelical Church Choir

The St. Lucas Boys Choir, posing at the entrance of the church (now named St. Lucas United Church of Christ), was organized in 1912. In this photograph, members are posing at the entrance of the church, which has stood at 33 West Virginia Street since it was dedicated in 1890.

St. Lucas was originally a German congregation, one of many existing in Evansville in the nineteenth-century. (The German name can be seen in the panel above the door in the picture.) Although the city’s West Side was heavily populated with people of German descent, the Jacobsville neighborhood was also home to many Germans by the turn-of-the-century.

The church expanded rapidly, and in 1907, a new parish hall was built diagonally across the street. Originally named St. Lucas Halle, the spacious structure cost $23,000 to build. A few years ago, it was converted to transitional housing and renamed Lucas Place.