How We Got Our Name

     Some of the first recorded settlers in this area were Nicholas Frett, Nicholas Adams and Jacob Schmitt, who arrived on August 2, 1841. All three of these families were from the Eifel Region in Germany, an area that at the time was ruled by Prussia, a financially poor country in spite of heavy taxation. The land there was in poor condition for farming, and these reasons led to the immigration of these families as well as many others in the years to come.

     The following paragraphs are excerpts from a Nicholas Frett letter written soon after they arrived to tell the family and friends left back in Germany what they found in their new home:

     We left our wives and children in the City of Chicago and the three of us went out in the country to look for an opportunity, and we found it thirty English miles from Chicago near the Village of McHenry, where there is an English free school, and a house of correction.

     The Village is only three English miles distant from us. There I bought a farm of 160 acres, which according to the German measures, makes 200 morgen at $2.50 per acre, in German money, six marks. The land lies in a good situation and also a beautiful neighborhood.

     Also, we have very fine meadowland upon which the grass is so high it reaches above my head. This will perhaps seem unbelievable to you, but it is true. I would not have believed it myself had I not seen it. One can make as much hay as he wants and where he wishes without paying for it...

     We no longer long for Germany. Every day we thank the Lord that he has brought us, so to speak, out of slavery into paradise. This also I wish from my heart for my dear friends, sisters, and brothers who continue to live in Germany as if under lions and dragons, fearing every moment to be devoured by them.

     It was in the hearts and eyes of these early settlers and what they saw in this community that lead us to the church name. It was the meadowland that attracted these early sojourners to the area, delivering them from their slavery into paradise.

     In much the same way, it is our prayer that Meadowland Community Church will attract today's sojourners into a community where friends and family can grow in their faith in Jesus Christ, and be equipped and sent out to help others find the hope and new life that is available only through Him.

     We recognize that all people, having been created in the image of God, are on a spiritual journey. It is the journey that is exciting and the journey that we enjoy doing together. Regardless of where you are on your journey, we would like to invite you to come check out Meadowland.