First Church of Christ, Scientist

Built in 1886 (Gothic Revival). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

From the record

“First Church of Christ, Scientist, also known as First Christian Science Church Edifice, is a church building located in Oconto, Wisconsin. Built in 1886 of stone, weatherboard and brick in the Gothic Revival style, it was the first purpose-built Christian Science church edifice in the world.”
Wikipedia article First Church of Christ, Scientist (Oconto, Wisconsin), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 23 National Register listings published here for Oconto County · listed in 1974 · category: Building · built in 1886, Gothic Revival.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. Chicago and Main Sts., Oconto, 54153
When was it listed? November 1974
Category. building
City. Oconto city
When was it built? 1886
Architectural style. Gothic Revival
National Register reference number. 74000111 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

74 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 74 fires within 5 miles of First Church of Christ, Scientist between 1993 and 2020, burning about 342 acres in total. None started naturally. 13 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	26
Equipment and vehicle use	21
Arson/incendiarism	13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	6
Misuse of fire by a minor	3
Smoking	2
Other causes	1
Fireworks	1
Recreation and ceremony	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
5 August 2004	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
27 August 2014	Fireworks	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	COUNTY Y FIRE
17 August 2007	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
10 August 1997	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
8 July 2009	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
24 July 2017	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	YOUNG ROAD FIRE
16 July 2009	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	not named
8 June 2019	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	FROG POND FIRE

Every fire recorded in Oconto County

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of First Church of Christ, Scientist: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where	Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
	Shuch Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Oconto County

Storms near this property

37 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oconto, the town this property stands in, in 37 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 17 flood, 10 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
March 1998	Hail	Oconto	1 hurt	no account filed
December 2019	Flood	Oconto	$384,000	An ice jam and high river stages produced flooding in the city of Oconto. The high water mainly affected Pecor, McDonald, Water, Turner, Ontario, Bridge, First and Second streets. The mobile home park on Farnsworth Avenue also Flooded. Washington Street by the Oconto County Courthouse also flooded as storm sewers overflowed.
January 2020	Flood	Oconto	$96,000	An ice jam and high river stages produced flooding in the city of Oconto. The high water mainly affected Pecor, McDonald, Water, Turner, Ontario, Bridge, First and Second streets. The mobile home park on Farnsworth Avenue also Flooded. Washington Street by the Oconto County Courthouse also flooded as storm sewers overflowed.
July 2013	Tornado (EF0)	Oconto	$25,000	A tornado touched down just east of Highway 41 near Swede Town Road and County Road A in Oconto County and moved along an eastward path toward the bay. The tornado was observed by an eyewitness. Dozens of trees were snapped and uprooted along the path of the tornado (DI 27, DOD 3-4 and DI 28, DOD 3-4). The tornado also blew over a recreational vehicle trailer. Average path width of the tornado was 75 yards.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Oconto	$2,000	no account filed
August 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Oconto	$2,000	no account filed
May 1998	Lightning	Oconto	$1,000	no account filed
July 2025	Tornado (EF0)	Oconto	-	A tornado touched down west of Oconto at 6:00 PM CDT. The tornado tracked northeast and snapped and uprooted several trees before dissipating just north of Oconto at 6:04 PM CDT. The tornado uprooted several trees at a local golf course northwest of Oconto. Total path length is estimated to be 2.37 miles long, with a width of 65 yards. Peak wind estimated to be around 77 mph.
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Oconto	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees in Oconto. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data.
March 2020	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road was often under water due to record high lake levels.
May 2020	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road was often under water due to record high lake levels.
April 2020	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road was often under water due to record high lake levels.
January 2020	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road was often under water due to high lake levels.
February 2020	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road was often under water due to record high lake levels.
July 2020	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road and County Highway Y from Harbor Road to County Highway A are closed due to ongoing flooding from record high lake levels.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Oconto	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines in Oconto. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data.
August 2020	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road and County Highway Y from Harbor Road to County Highway A are closed due to ongoing flooding from record high lake levels.
September 2020	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road and County Highway Y from Harbor Road to County Highway A are closed due to ongoing flooding from high lake levels.
June 2020	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road and County Highway Y from Harbor Road to County Highway A are closed due to ongoing flooding from record high lake levels.
October 2019	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road was often under water due to high lake levels.
August 2019	Hail	Oconto	-	Walnut size hail fell in Oconto.
September 2019	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road was often under water due to high lake levels.
December 2019	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road was often under water due to high lake levels.
November 2019	Flood	Oconto	-	North Bayshore Road was often under water due to high lake levels.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Oconto	-	Thunderstorm winds overturned a pickup truck that was pulling a large trailer on Highway 41 near exit 198 outside of Oconto.
August 2015	Hail	Oconto	-	Hail as large as quarter size fell at Oconto.
August 2015	Hail	Oconto	-	Quarter size hail fell just to the west of Oconto.
June 2012	Hail	Oconto	-	Thunderstorms produced quarter size hail at Oconto.
June 2012	Funnel Cloud	Oconto	-	A funnel cloud was spotted over Oconto.
March 2007	Flood	Oconto	-	no account filed
June 2004	Hail	Oconto	-	no account filed
September 2004	Hail	Oconto	-	no account filed
May 1998	Hail	Oconto	-	no account filed
July 1996	Hail	Oconto	-	no account filed
July 1996	Flood	Oconto	-	no account filed
August 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Oconto	-	no account filed
May 1995	Hail	Oconto	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Oconto County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
West Main Street Historic District	0.2 miles	1979
Gov. Edward Scofield House	0.2 miles	1973
St. Peter's and St. Joseph's Catholic Churches	0.3 miles	1980
Farnsworth Public Library	0.4 miles	2017
Holt-Balcom Lumber Company Office	0.5 miles	1976
Oconto Main Post Office	0.5 miles	1980

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 74000111 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Oconto County	All 23 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.