Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church, Rural Mennonite church building in Goessel, Kansas.
Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church stands north of Goessel, Kansas, on land its congregation bought from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1874. The first meeting house was assembled from two Santa Fe immigrant houses moved together after families left them for their own farms. Membership grew from 265 in 1874 to 467 in 1880, and the congregation joined the General Conference Mennonite Church in 1878.
The congregation originated from Mennonites living in Prussia who moved to Russia in 1820 before emigrating to Kansas in 1874. The journey to America was made on two ships, the Cimbria and the Teutonia.
The name Alexanderwohl comes from German for "well", words spoken by Czar Alexander I when the congregation met him on its 1820-21 journey to Russia. The congregation joined the General Conference Mennonite Church in 1878 and opened three schools by the winter of 1874.
The church stands on a section north of Goessel where two immigrant houses were once placed; these were later moved together to form the first place of worship. The present building is reached by road through open farmland, and the surrounding fields give a clear view of the structure from a distance. Services follow the congregation's Mennonite Church USA affiliation.
The congregation was a complete village migration from Russia, with members emigrating together and purchasing adjacent plots of land. This made them one of the few communities that kept their identity intact across generations as a unified group.
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