Records existing today show that a German Baptist Church was organized in the town of Wayne in the early 1850's and baptisms were recorded as early as 1850. The first two members listed were Christoph and Henriette Mallshagen who came to this country from Prussia. Other members listed had come from St. Gallen, Switzerland. In 1852, an acre of land was purchased on the north county line in the town of Wayne, and the congregation built a log building which they referred to as a "meeting house." The first pastor was Rev. W. E. Grimm who served the church until 1857. Sixty converts joined the church during his years of ministry. One of those converts was Michael Schwendener who had immigrated to this country from Switzerland. He later became the pastor of the church. During his ministry until 1876, 108 names were added to the membership roll of the church.

In 1860, the church reorganized and applied to Washington County for Incorporation Papers. From that time on, the name of the church was Zion German Baptist Church and was part of the German Baptist Conference. A building committee was appointed in 1861 and the following year a brick church was built at the cost of $1040. A school was established in the church to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. Any child whose parents were members of the church would pay .40 to .50 cents total. Children outside the congregation would pay .25 cents a month. The teacher should not receive more than $25 dollars or less than $10 dollars. A committee was appointed to keep the teacher and also keep up the school. The church continued to grow and flourish until the early 1900's and many times they helped other needy churches. At times, circuit pastors served the church- also serving at Richfield and Knowles.

Throughout the years, there were always families moving from the area, mostly to other mid-west states and in 1920, many members moved to South Dakota leaving the church with a small membership and the remaining members voted to discontinue services and unite with other congregations. Burials were made in the cemetery until 1931. Reunions were held at the church with former members coming from many states to attend.

In recent years, the church building had been vandalized so much that it had become unsafe. In view of this, descendants of the last active members of the church agreed to have the Bi-centennial and Historical committee of Kewaskum under the direction of Merv Thompson, dismantle the church and use the bricks in the Kiwanis Park in Kewaskum.

The cemetery was also vandalized and overgrown. In the 1980's, in a spirit of well-doing, Edgar Miske took it upon himself, the task of clearing the cemetery so it could be mowed. He has continued to mow it and it is now a lovely place worthy of the deceased buried there. It is located on St. Killian Drive.

Last names of the early settlers who were members of the church are still in the community today. Some of them are: Jung, Borchert, Schlegel, Guth, Senn, Scheid, Schmidt, Miller and Zielicke.

(Excerpt taken from "Winding through the Town of Wayne" Published 1998.)

Location Notes: Listed as located in Washington County, WI in the Town of Wayne, according to current maps, the location of the cemetery is North of the Fond du Lac/Washington County Line in Fond du Lac County within the Incorporated town of Campbellsport.

It is located on top of a hill on St. Killians drive between Hwy W and Hwy BB. It is not visible from the road due to heavy brush and trees and the entrance is hard to spot.

NOTE: Zion Baptist Cemetery is often confused with the Albright United Brethren Cemetery which is located on Townline Road between Kewaskum and Wayne. They are "NOT" the same location although many of those interred at Zion Baptist are listed as being buried there.