In 1857, Rev. August Huelster held the first Evangelical church service in Cottonwood Township at the home of Charles Lauer. In 1865, John Mohr, Philip Pfisterer, and Carl Schreyer, trustees of the Evangelical Association, purchased two acres in the township, setting aside one acre for a cemetery and building a log church on the other, which was dedicated Dec. 19, 1869. A log parsonage was added in 1870, and during the ministry of Rev. Martin Gagstetter from 1891 to 1894, the log church was replaced by a frame church. By 1920, the congregation had dissolved, the church land had been sold, and the building had been moved into Searles, where it was used for commercial and residential purposes until it was torn down in 1968. The cemetery continued to be maintained by the association, the last burial took place in 1955, and in July of 1986 the cemetery was declared abandoned and its deed turned over to the Brown County Commissioners. It was later restored with support from the Evangelical Cemetery Association, the County of Brown, a grant from the Aid Association for Lutherans, and the Brown County Historical Society.