The First Church in Chadron

Shortly after Chadron’s townsite was selected on August 1, 1885, the Reverend Harmon Bross, a Congregational missionary, conducted the first worship service in the new community. For a time, services were held in the open air or in tents, and on August 23, 1885, a Congregational Church was organized. Chadron’s first church was built on this site in the fall of 1885 at a total cost of $1775 for the building and lot, and the Congregational Church of Chadron was dedicated on Sunday, December 20, 1885. It stood here until 1959, when the new church was completed, and the original building still serves another denomination as a chapel. The church’s first regular minister was the Reverend G. J. Powell, who began his ministry in 1887 and led the effort to establish a Congregational academy in Chadron. Chadron Academy operated from 1889-1910 until the land was acquired by the State of Nebraska for use as a normal school, today’s Chadron State College.

Chadron, Nebraska · United States