First Evangelical Lutheran Church, founded in 1849, is Racine's oldest Lutheran congregation and one of the oldest churches in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. From its beginning, it maintained a close bond to the synod, and its first two pastors, J. Weinmann and J. Wrede, joined J. Muehlhaueser in founding the synod in Milwaukee in 1850. The present church building was dedicated in 1897, replacing the original church erected in 1850. Designed by Chandler and Park in the German Romanesque-Gothic style popular at the turn of the century, the cut-stone and cream-brick building has the traditional shape of a cruciform, with a smaller tower rising 85 feet and a larger tower 120 feet. The building cost $23,000. From pioneer days to the present, the congregation has continued in the purpose for which it was founded: to preach the Gospel, preach Christ crucified, and confess that God completely absolves sins only to those who trust in the living and dying merits of His Son, Jesus Christ.