BEREA CONGREGATIONAL This church is made up by the merging of the German and Bethleham Congregational organizations.  The German Congregational church was organizrd in 1854 and services were held in a building on Fifth street, just west of Warren, until 1902, when property was bought at Fourth and Pine streets and a handsome church edifice erected thereon.  Just north of the church and on the same lot a neat pressed brick parsonage was built.  In this church services were held for fifty-six years without intermission, until its union with the Bethlehem church, in October, 1909. The Mission Sunday school was organized in the late '60s to conduct instruction in English in the west end of Davenport.  For a number of years this Sunday school met at the German Congregational church on West Fifth street Sunday afternoons.  In 1882 members of the Edwards Congregational church, with a few others who had been helping in the Sunday school, built Bethlehem hall on Warren street just south of Fifth.  In 1894 the Bethlehem church was organized as an independent society, and continued at the old location until its union with the German church in October, 1909, to form the Berea church.  Under the leadership of the Rev. R. K. Atkinson, pastor of the Bethlehem church, the Berea Congregational church was organized by merging with the Bethlehem as stated above.  The church has 220 members and its property, consisting of a modern church building, valued at about $14,000.  The Sunday school enrolls 230 members, and all the auxiliary organizations of the church are active and aggressive. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L