Notable church members include Ovid Butler, a local lawyer who helped found North Western Christian University, and temperance movement advocate and women's suffrage leader Zerelda G. Wallace.
The congregation initially met in a log cabin belonging to Benjamin Roberts and was formally organized on June 12, 1833.
[1][2] The Church of Christ in Indianapolis was the city's fourth religious congregation, preceded by the Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists.
Many of the Indianapolis Disciples of Christ congregation's women went on to hold leadership positions in the state and national Christian Woman's Board of Missions, which was established later that year.
[3][9] The present-day church, erected at Delaware Avenue and Walnut Street in Indianapolis, was completed in 1892 and dedicated on April 16, 1893.
W. Scott Moore, a local architect, designed the church; Charlton Eden and Sons, who were members of the congregation, constructed the facility at a cost of $47,500.
[11] The brick and stone masonry church on North Delaware Street faces west and is designed in the Romanesque Revival style.
Oak pews arranged on a slanted floor in a semi-circle facing the pulpit and choir provide good visibility for the congregation during church services.
[11] The sanctuary has a vaulted ceiling and its stained-glass windows include various Christian symbols such as a cross, crown, anchor, palms, and vines.
A large, sliding door on the east side of the sanctuary provides access to fellowship hall, which includes wrought-iron grillwork on its second-floor balcony.
[12][13] Central Christian Church, known for its educational programs, community outreach, and foreign ministry, was among the first to establish graded Sunday school classes.
[11] Although it began with a few members in 1833, Central Christian Church's membership had reached 1,715 by 1936, ranking it among the largest of Indiana's Disciples of Christ congregations at that time.