Overview
The church is named after John the Baptist. It was erected from 1870 to 1874 in neo gothic style as a replacement for the old city church, which was in poor condition and too small. Preceding the Reformation, the Leonhard Chapel stood at this location.
In 1851 the old church, of which only the tower remains, was almost 500 years old. Four years later it was declared to be dilapidated but no one wanted to finance the building costs of a new church.
Dean Freihofer researched the matter and discovered that in 1543, shortly after the introduction of the Reformation, Duke Ulrich of Württemberg had taken the church assets and combined them with the state assets. Freihofer came to the conclusion, that the state was obligated to bear the building costs. As the state refused to do so, several lengthy trials were held and Nagold won the case. The new church was dedicated in 1874.
The model for Nagold’s church was the protestant church at Feuersee in Stuttgart.