History Summary: Immanuel Lutheran Church is located in East Central Illinois and began in 1872 when immigrants from East Friesia, German, settled in Champaign County, Illinois. The immigrants drained off the swamp land and began to farm the rich soil.
The present church structure was built in 1914 to accommodate the growing congregation. Immanuel was given the name "the mother church", as a number of neighboring Lutheran Congregations grew from it. Today it is part of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC).
We are known as the "Cathedral in the Cornfield" due to our rural location.