in 1841, Reverend John Lehman, a missionary from Pennsylvania, gathered the scattered Lutherans in the area to form a congregation.

They supported reform efforts such as anti-slavery, temperance, world peace, the Sunday school, and social services.

Wittenberg University[5] began at First Lutheran and all the preparatory, college, and seminary classes were held there from 1845 to 1851.

The ground floor assembly room is called Wittenberg Hall to commemorate the school's beginning in that space.

It operated Sunday schools and missions in the east, west, and south ends of town which developed into congregations of other Christian denominations.

The center city is now involved in a major makeover and First Lutheran Church is in the thick of construction.