Christian Newcomer was the third bishop of the former United Brethren Church. Interestingly, he was elected bishop before he was ordained! The United Brethren Church merged with the Evangelical Association in 1946 to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church, or EUB. Both the EA and UB churches were primarily German-speaking. In 1968, The EUB church merged with the Methodist Church to form today's United Methodist Church.
In Milbank, a town of approximately 3500, there are two United Methodist Churches. Parkview UMC (on the opposite side of Pribyl Park from this cache) was a Methodist congregation. (You can find an original print of this building in the basement of the Terry Redlin Art Center in Watertown, SD among his commercial print work).
Central UMC (over by the former middle school) was an EUB congregation (tracing denominational lineage from Christian Newcomer). Central UMC is also a mixture of multiple congregations (Grant Center EUB, Twin Brooks EUB, Alban EUB, Alban Community and First EUB in Milbank) that have merged together over the last sixty years to form what is now known simply as CENTRAL.
For more information visit the Grant County Historical Society. Congrats to 3buds on the FTF!