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Photograph of Freewill Baptist Church
Photograph by Whoabot, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Freewill Baptist Church

Built in 1858 (Greek Revival architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

From the record

“Freewill Baptist Church is a historic church at 19750 W. National Avenue in New Berlin, Wisconsin, United States.”

Wikipedia article Freewill Baptist Church (New Berlin, Wisconsin), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 153 National Register listings published here for Waukesha County · listed in 1998 · category: Building · built in 1858, Greek Revival architecture.

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 2 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 19750 W. National Ave., New Berlin, 53146
  • When was it listed? June 1998
  • Category. building
  • City. New Berlin city
  • When was it built? 1858
  • Architectural style. Greek Revival architecture
  • National Register reference number. 97001409 - 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.

The ground it stands on

75,278 words

This property stands in New Berlin City. The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources; an Extensive and Minute Sketch of Its Cities, Towns and Villages--their Improvements, Industries, Manufactories, Churches, Schools and Societies; Its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin, Statistics of the State, and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution and of the Constitution of the United States, published 1880 gives that township a chapter of its own.

The chapter covers the township.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on New Berlin City - 75,278 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Fires near this property

37 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 37 fires within 5 miles of Freewill Baptist Church between 2010 and 2020, burning about 390 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 3 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined25
Debris and open burning5
Arson/incendiarism3
Natural2
Equipment and vehicle use2

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

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
28 September 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources453
9 August 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources186
4 August 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources407
31 August 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2990
7 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2265
6 July 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources2244
4 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources140
30 July 2019Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources417

Every fire recorded in Waukesha County

Mines and quarries near this property

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Freewill Baptist Church: 6 producers, 1 past producer. 6 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Buege Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Kohler PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Park View Sand & Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Pit 14 and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Valley BlacktopSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Valley PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Valley Pit Hillview S & GSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Waukesha County

Storms near this property

21 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names New Berlin, the town this property stands in, in 21 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 5 lightning, 1 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 1996LightningNew Berlin$150,000no account filed
August 2009LightningNew Berlin$50,000Lightning struck a home and started a fire that resulted in a fair amount of damage.
May 2012Thunderstorm WindNew Berlin$20,000The public reported trees downed by powerful thunderstorm winds 2 miles southeast of the city of New Berlin. A tree measuring 15 inches in diameter fell on a house.
May 2020FloodNew Berlin$15,000In New Berlin there were numerous flooded streets, basements, and elevator shafts. |A portion of 130th St. was closed due to road buckling.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindNew Berlin$15,000Powerful thunderstorm winds toppled numerous large trees, and broken tree branches brought down some power lines.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindNew Berlin$10,000Numerous trees and branches down. One power pole damaged by tree landing on it.
March 2008LightningNew Berlin$10,000A lightning strike to a radio antenna on a home on National Avenue damaged a breadmaker, interior wiring, and electrical outlets. However , there was no fire.
April 2013LightningNew Berlin$5,000A house fire occurred in the town of New Berlin when the residence was struck by lightning. Only minor damage was reported.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindNew Berlin$5,000no account filed
June 2014Thunderstorm WindNew Berlin$2,000Sporadic coverage of trees and power lines down in New Berlin.
July 1999LightningNew Berlin$2,000no account filed
September 2016Heavy RainNew Berlin-Heavy rains and street flooding resulted in closing the intersection of 128th street and Cleveland Ave in New Berlin.
October 2006Thunderstorm WindNew Berlin-Powerful thunderstorm winds knocked down large trees.
April 2025HailNew Berlin-no account filed
September 2025HailNew Berlin-no account filed
May 2024HailNew Berlin-no account filed
August 2014HailNew Berlin-no account filed
July 2006Thunderstorm WindNew Berlin-no account filed
June 2004Thunderstorm WindNew Berlin-no account filed
May 2001HailNew Berlin-no account filed
October 1996HailNew Berlin-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Waukesha 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.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Weston's Antique Apple Orchard0.1 miles1996
Muskego State Graded School2.9 miles2019
Gredler-Gramins House3.1 miles1980
Reformed Presbyterian Church of Vernon3.6 miles1999
Carl and Therese Schauwitzer House3.9 miles2013
Haseltine Cobblestone House4.3 miles1980

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 97001409 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Waukesha CountyAll 153 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.