Territorial Church

The plaque's leading scientist did not stay a pastor. Samuel Aughey, born in Pennsylvania on February 8, 1831, came to Dakota City as a Lutheran pastor in 1864, and in 1871 he was named the first professor of natural science at the new University of Nebraska in Lincoln; he also served as state geologist. He championed the idea that rainfall follows the plow, which did not survive the drought of the 1890s. A financial scandal forced his resignation in 1883. He became territorial geologist for Wyoming and died in Spokane, Washington, on February 3, 1912.

What the plaque says

Territorial Church Here stands the first Lutheran church building constructed in Nebraska. It has occupied this site since 1860. The congregation was first served by Reverend Henry W. Kuhns, a missionary sent by the Allegheny Synod to Nebraska Territory. Kuhns preached his first sermon in the front room of the Bates House in November 1858 and formally organized the church on July 22, 1859. The membership immediately made plans for building, but their first effort of moving a store building from the abandoned town of Pacific City was frustrated when the structure was destroyed by a prairie fire while being moved to Dakota City. This church was designed and built by Augustus T. Haase, a local carpenter and member of the Emmanuel Lutheran congregation, at a cost of $2,000. For several years the building also served periodically as a Territorial courthouse, with religious services being held on Sunday as usual. Samuel Aughey, a leading scientist of the period, was the second pastor to serve the church. This old church still stands as a monument to the steadfastness of purpose of the early settler and as a symbol of pioneer religious life. Dakota County Historical Society Historical Land Mark Council

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ponca State Park — 19 mi
  Oak ravines and bluffs at the downstream end of the Missouri's last unchannelized reach in Nebraska, with a three-state overlook and the river's resource and education center.
• Blackbird Scenic Overlook — 21 mi
  A pull-off on US-75 at Macy on the Umóⁿhoⁿ reservation, looking over the Missouri valley toward the hill where Wazhiⁿga' sabe, Blackbird, was buried after the smallpox of 1800.

More markers nearby

• Tonwantonga — 4.7 mi
• St. John's, 1856 — 7.9 mi
• You Are Now Entering South Dakota — 8.5 mi
• Combs School, Built 1857 - Closed 1964 — 8.9 mi