The booklet complied and issued by the Historical Committee of the Northwestern District of the American Lutheran Church celebrating the 50th Anniversary begins as follows:

(1941)- "It is a matter of historical record that the first Lutherans came into the Pacific Northwest with the Lewis and Clark Expedition which left Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on September 1, 1803. Among the members of the famous expedition was Peter Weiser, thrid removed from Colonel Philip Muhlenberg, patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America. There is evidence to support the claim that German Lutherans were also with John Jacob Astor on the first overland expedition which blazed the Oregon Trail and which culminated in the founding of Astoria Oregon - the first white settlement in the Pacific Northwest in 1817. No claim is made here, however, that any of this colonial Lutheran stock came directly into the blood stream of what has since come to be the Northwestern District of the American Lutheran Church. It is likely that it did not.

Walla Walla, unlike most of the communities where new congregations were being formed, had a long and varied history for many decades before 1880. The first recorded visit to the area was that of Meriwether Lewis, who, with members of the Lewis and Clark expedition, went up the Walla Walla River for some distance on their return trip to what is now Lewiston Idaho.
Washington was made a territory February 10, 1853. The County of Walla Walla was organized by the Northwest territorial legislature in January 1859. The city government of Walla Walla was set up November 7, 1859, but the charter was not granted until 1862.

Walla Walla in the closing decades of the 19th Century; was a community concerned for it's citizens, a community where one could live and flourish.
Missionaries were in great demand and the need for ministers to serve new congregations could not be met as new communities were settled.

"In a very direct sense the Northwestern District is the product of an organized mission endeavor."
"The Home Mission Board sent out its pioneer pastors. Only in a few communities did Lutherans settle so densely that they could organize as self supporting congregations."
"The early pastors 'go everywhere preaching the Word.' They move from place to place gathering scattered Lutheran people."

Pastors that have served Emmanuel:

1888-1890 Anton Horn and Henry Rieke (traveling missionaries)
1890-1892 Carl Vollmer
1892-1895 A.F. Gillman
1895-1899 Adolph Eberle
1899-1904 Henry Rieke
1904-1906 J. Oertel
1906-1912 C. Berthold
1913-1915 Albert Koehler
1916-1923 Amos Minneman
1923-1937 Hans Wittrock
1938-1947 Frederick J. molter
!947-1957 Harold L. Daugs
1957-1972 Wm. A. Foege
1972-1996 Keith E. Krebs
1996-1996 Curtis Fox (Interim-9 months)
1996-2001 Elliott Hull
2001-2003 O.B. Fjelstead (Interim)
2003- Mark Koonz

Some immigrants settled in Eastern Washington and brought to our community(Walla Walla) their skills in professions, trade, and above all husbandry. Many of these immigrants were Lutheran and many were concerned about their spiritual welfare and that of their fellow man.

There is no record as to when the first Lutheran family arrived in the valley, but it would seem that Lutherans did not make their appearance until about the early 1880's. However, the first record of any Lutheran families, that we can determine, is that of the Bade brothers, Fritz and John, coming to Walla Walla in 1886. Soon thereafter the Eggers and Hellberg families also arrived. William and Herman Bade came to Dayton about this time. In the early 1890's the Knopf and Scheider families also came to the Walla Walla Valley. Descendants of all these families are still members of Emmanuel Lutheran today.