Zion Lutheran Church was organized December 28, 1890 and became affiliated with the Lutheran Synod of Ohio, with a group of German immigrants as its nucleus. Rev. Paul Groschupf, a circuit riding Lutheran missionary, probably gave the additional stimuli and preached the first sermon in the church building. This German congregation struggled almost to the dying stage when Rev. T. A. Schoenberg, a Field Missionary, came in 1912 and reorganized the church into an English speaking work. In 1912 the congregation became affiliated with the Pacific Synod of the United Lutheran Church.
For a time the church was just four walls with not even an entry hall to break the fierce winds of winter. There was a small cellar room where, in the summer, German school had been held in the early days of its founding. In 1924 a partly finished Sunday School room, kitchen and furnace were added. The first church was located on M. Avenue. The dedication of a fellowship annex was held June 20, 1925. The first parsonage was purchased in 1923. The Zion congregation purchased land at its present site and dedicated the new church June 20, 1954, with a parish hall and Sunday School area being completed and dedicated in 1967.
From the guide to the Zion Lutheran Church, La Grande, Oregon, Records, 1890-2012, (Pacific Lutheran University)
