1854 | Kansas-Nebraska Act
President Franklin Pierce signs the law creating the Nebraska Territory.

1856 | Augustus Kountze
Shortly after arriving in Omaha City, Kountze writes a letter to his former pastor in Canton, Ohio, asking him to send a Lutheran minister.

1858 | Rev. Henry Kuhns
In response to Kountze’s letter, Kuhns arrives in Omaha City on November 19 as a missionary of the Allegheny Synod of Pennsylvania to the Nebraska Territory, receiving a salary of $500 per year plus whatever he could collect in the field.


1858 | Charter Members
On December 5, Kuhns and fourteen prominent Omaha citizens organize Emanuel’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, the first Lutheran church in Omaha and the Nebraska Territory.

1862 | First Building
After meeting in rented facilities, Emanuel’s dedicates its first building at 1210 Douglas Street on February 16. The building measures 35’ x 50’ and costs $5000 to construct.

1862 | Church Bell
The congregation purchases a bell—still in use today—with a $100 gift and proceeds from the sale of two quarts of chestnuts. The bell calls all to worship and serves as the city’s first fire alarm.




1866 | Early Omaha
Looking east on Douglas Street from 18th Street, Emanuel’s bell tower is visible on the north side.

“Some towns are famed for beauty,
And others for deeds of blood,
But say what you may of Omaha,
It beats them all for mud.”
– Omaha Daily Herald,March 13, 1868


1881 | Boyd’s Opera House
The decision to construct a larger church building results in the selling of the first church for $16,000.The congregation rents the theatre on the northeast corner of 15th and Farnam Streets for two years until the basement of the second building is complete.

1883 | Name Change
Augustus Kountze agrees to match pledges for the construction of the second building. In gratitude, the congregation unanimously votes to rename the church in honor of Kountze’s father, thus becoming Kountze Memorial Evangelical Lutheran Church.



Easter 1885 | Second Building
Kountze Memorial completes an impressive $50,000 building on the northeast corner of 16th and Harney Streets. Due to financial hardship, the congregation never dedicates its second home.





1886 | Satellite Churches
Members of Kountze Memorial, wanting to worship closer to home, establish the first satellite church, St. Mark’s Lutheran at 21st and Burdette Streets. Three years later, Grace Lutheran, 1326 S. 26th Street, is founded by Luther Kuhns, the first Nebraska-born Lutheran minister and son of Rev. Henry Kuhns. Rev. Luther Kuhns is the first of over twenty known members of Kountze Memorial to enter the ministry.

1906 | Third Building
Following the sale of the second building for $90,000, portions of the structure are salvaged for use in the new church at 26th and Farnam Streets. Until the basement of the new building is complete, worship takes place in rented facilities. Herman Kountze and his brothers contribute nearly a fourth of the $124,000 construction costs, allowing the church to be dedicated debt free on May 27. The congregation completes expansions in 1942, 1969, and a $2.5 million building renovation in 2006.

1909 | Mission Churches
Gethsemane Lutheran, 19th and Castelar Streets, originally serves as a Sunday school mission with Kountze Memorial providing instruction and funding. Kountze Memorial establishes Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, 24th and Larimore Streets, in 1915, Pilgrim Lutheran, 42nd and Bancroft Streets, in 1923, and St. Matthew’s Lutheran, 60th and Walnut Streets, in 1924.

1911 | Rev. Oliver Baltzly
During Baltzly’s tenure, Kountze Memorial becomes the largest Lutheran church in America with over 5,000 members and a 1931 Confirmation class of 364. In 1919, Midland Lutheran College moves to Fremont, Nebraska, from Atchison, Kansas, with financial help from Kountze Memorial under the leadership of Baltzly.

1913 | Easter Tornado
After the sale of Kountze Memorial’s first building, the bell serves Zion Lutheran Church inYutan, Nebraska, until their building’s destruction in the tornado. Two years later the bell returns to Kountze Memorial.

1918 | WWI Service Flag
Kountze Memorial has a long history of service to the nation in times of war. In WWI and WWII, the congregation displays the largest known church service flags in the country and in 1950 dedicates a new pipe organ in honor of those who served. The congregation’s spirit of service continues today.


1919 | Foreign Missionaries
With the commission of Mette Blair, R.N., Kountze Memorial begins a long and continued practice of supporting foreign missionaries throughout the world. In 1919, Blair sails to southern India to provide medical services.

1941 | Rev. Walter Traub
Traub (1931-1959), the longest serving pastor in Kountze Memorial’s history, founds the Order of St. John (worship assistants) in 1941, oversees the addition of the Fellowship Hall and Education wing in 1942, and conducts the first Protestant preaching mission to the United States Air Force in Europe in 1951.




1955 | Convention
Kountze Memorial hosts the Central States Synod convention in May. The church earlier hosts national synod conventions in 1887 and 1940, as well as the national Luther League youth convention in 1929.

1962 | Rev. Paul deFreese
Under the leadership of deFreese, Kountze Memorial begins weekly television broadcasts of the 9:00 AM worship service. In addition, the congregation holds the first of over twenty-five largely attended, annual Rally Dinners reflecting on stewardship. In 1969, he oversees an expansion of the church building.

1982 | deFreese Manor
The construction of an impressive four-story complex of fifty-one apartments at 2669 Dodge Street fills the affordable housing need for low-income senior citizens. The church names the building in honor of Rev. Paul deFreese.





1985 | Endowment Fund
A $250,000 gift establishes a fund for the purpose of outreach and later provides money for college scholarships and capital improvements.

1999 | Neighborhood Gathering
The congregation holds the first Neighborhood Gathering, inviting those in the surrounding community to the church for fun and fellowship.


2008 | Abundantly Blessed
Kountze Memorial Lutheran Church, with close to 2,100 members, celebrates 150 years of worship and fellowship with one another, growth in faith, and service to the community.