Abraham Reck

(Jan. 2, 1791-May 18, 1869). Born in Littlestown, Pennsylvania, Abraham Reck studied for the ministry and held his first pastorate at Winchester, Virginia (now West Virginia). He also served as a missionary in remote parts of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania and as treasurer of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Maryland and Virginia. In 1828, he accepted a call to Middletown, Maryland, where he remained until the mid-1830s.

Around 1835-1836, Reck joined a group of Maryland farmers who migrated to Marion County. Settling northeast of Indianapolis along Millersville Road, he established Ebenezer Lutheran Church with 40 members on August 6, 1836, and served as pastor until 1840. Reck also helped to organize the Hopewell Evangelical Lutheran Church (now Salem Lutheran) at John Klingensmith’s farm near Augusta Station (New Augusta) in 1836.

In early 1837, local residents called Reck to organize Mt. Pisgah Lutheran Church, commonly known as First English Lutheran Church and the first Lutheran body in Indianapolis. The congregation purchased a lot on the southeast corner of Meridian and Ohio streets and erected a brick building in 1838 where Reck served until 1841.

During the 1830s, Pastor Reck participated in the founding of eight Lutheran congregations in the area. He resigned his pastorates in 1841 to organize an English Lutheran Church in the Cincinnati area. Reck also held positions in Germantown, Tarleton, and Lancaster, Ohio, where he later died.

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