Update: See the congregation’s original cemetery in this post from January of 2021.

Dating from 1871, the Zion German Evangelical Church sits in splendid isolation, with only a parking lot and cemetery surrounding it.  The congregation, which still exists, dates from 1838.

It is typical of many St. Louis churches in that it is really a hybrid of multiple styles: Romanesque Revival and even Renaissance Revival details (though humbly rendered in brick), but yet with Gothic Revival massing.  In many ways, this innocent eclecticism is what so attracts me to these small, once rural churches in the county.

The cemetery out back reflects the old age of the congregation, which has since moved across Ballas Road, saving the church from receiving ugly additions that muddle its composition.