German Lutherans fleeing religious persecution and economic privation came to Kirchhayn from the Kingdom of Prussia in 1843, making this site a center of their religious activity. In 1847 they formed the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Immanuel. In 1853 they erected a log church where they worshipped and taught school. The school immediately north was built about 1860, and the parsonage immediately west was built in 1870. The brick church now standing on the site was built in 1874.