The Moravian Church, or “Unitas Fratrum,” is one of the oldest Protestant bodies in the world. It was historically an ascetic movement whose adherents lived a disciplined communal life. In the mid-seventeenth century, church members fled persecution in Moravia and found refuge in America. The church became known for its missionary activities among Native Americans. In Wisconsin, Moravians established enclaves in Watertown, Wisconsin Rapids, Green Bay, and Ephraim. Most of the Moravians who settled Watertown in the 1850s were ethnic Germans.
When, in 1906, the Watertown Moravians needed a larger church, they engaged local architect Lindsay to design this cream brick Gothic Revival edifice. The three-stage corner tower has a pointed-arched entrance, which leads the eye upward to emphatic pinnacles and finials. The overall sense of verticality repeats on the other side of the nave, where prominent finials surmount a two-story tower.