Who remembers the rich history of the Lomira Campground?
Who remembers the merger, in 1946, of the Evangelical Church and the United Brethren Church or, in 1968, between the Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist Church?
 

“The Lomira area has long been a stronghold of the Evangelical Church. While Wisconsin was still a mission of the Illinois Conference, people of the Lomira Circuit expressed a desire for a camp meeting session in their area. The date for such a first meeting was June 15-21, 1853. Location of the camp was on the property of M. Zickerick on the east slope of the church cemetery. There were seven improvised shelters for use in this new experience for the community. People came on foot from Menomonee Falls to the south. Three families came by ox team and wagon from Princeton, sixty miles to the north. There was powerful preaching, ardent praying and inspiring singing. After two years of meeting at this site, the location was changed to a place near the village pond, a short distance to the east.

During the Civil War the location was changed to the Christian Ehrhardt woods at the northeast limits of the village of Knowles. Services continued there until the turn of the century when there was again a return to Lomira.

In 1904 the campmeeting services were held at a new location, at the east limits of the village where Trinity United Methodist Church now stands. The seven acre woodlot was purchased from Wm. Grandman for the cost of $1,000. Initially, the property was held by a shareholding association. In 1905 the campmeeting association of the Fond du Lac and Milwaukee Districts were united with this Lomira site designated as the annual summer meeting place. Later it was sold to the Wisconsin Conference.

Early services and other facilities were housed in tents. The first wood structure to be erected was a modest kitchen and dining room, which in time was enlarged to accommodate more than three hundred people.
 
In 1906 the spacious Tabernacle with seating capacity of 1200 was erected at a cost of $3,381.70. The building contractor was Herman Unferth of the local Lomira congregation. With all it was sold and dismantled in 1957.
 
Other buildings constructed in addition to the Tabernacle were three dormitories which could accommodate approximately 300 people. Further housing facilities were provided over the dining hall, over the office building and in 16 private cottages on the grounds. A small tabernacle was built for children’s services and an educational building was constructed for holding of classes and seminars.
 
In 1904 earliest travel was by horse and carriage. The south and east edges of the wooded lot were lined with posts, to which ropes were often attached, for the hitching of horses for the day. In time, however, the motor car replaced the horse and carriage. Five decades of camp life saw the complete change from one to the other.

More distant travel to Lomira, well into the second decade of the 20th century, was by railroad, the Wisconsin Central, later the Soo Line, which passed through the village. There were other limited trains scheduled to stop because the volume of traffic provided by convention attendants. The baggage was transported from and to the grounds by the use of a milkwagon or hayrack drawn by horses.

With the passing of time and changes another acre at the northwest corner of the original tract was secured for recreational and parking purposes. Sometime later another tract of two acres bordering the east edge of the woodlot was secured for similar purposes.

With the changing features of camping, the need became evident for more extensive acreage, water front facilities, and small type cabin housing which led to the purchase of Lake Lucerne properties in Waushara County. All camping activities were transferred there in 1957.

Thus ended 104 years of church camp activities of the Evangelical United Brethren Church at Lomira.”