The Protestant congregation in Aruba was founded in 1822. There was no church building at that time. Klaas van Eeckhout, a teacher, had been appointed at the Governor’s School in 1821 as religion teacher and he also served the Protestant congregation. Van Eeckhout conducted church services at the homes of prominent members of the congregation, such as the Eman and Specht families. The Services were also held in the local school.

In 1844, the house of the Arends family on Wilhelminastraat 1 in Oranjestad was purchased for two hundred and five guilders. It served as a place of Protestant worship. Because the building was too small and dilapidated, it was decided in 1845 to demolish it and build a new church at the same location. The new church was placed on the foundations of the old Arends house. The walls were built with stones from the demolished house. This is the present ‘Kerki 1846.’ To make lime for plastering and painting, a lime kiln was erected at Fort Zoutman. A tower bell was also purchased, but it did not survive transport. With the intervention of Commander Jacob Jarman, a new bell was procured from Coro, Venezuela. Since there was no tower at first, the bell was placed in a belfry, above the roof of the church. This bell box was nicknamed ‘the dovecote.’

The money needed to build the church was raised from collections, mainly from Curaçao (over 2,000 guilders), where the Protestant congregation was larger. Until 1846 Aruba was part of the Protestant congregation of Curaçao. The Protestant congregation of Aruba had about 180 members in 1846. Kerki 1846 was consecrated in February 1846 by Rev. Meyer of Curaçao. The construction cost of the church was 3087 guilders. The workmen earned between 0.75 (carpenters) and 1.50 guilders (the head mason) per day. Some of the children who helped earned 5 cents per day. Thus the church archives, which were kept in the current large Protestant church and have now been transferred to the National Archives of Aruba

The coastline ran much closer to the church in 1846. Therefore, the Kerki 1846 became known as ‘The Church on the Bay’ (baay). The first pastor appointed was Rev. Nicholas Kuiperi (1858 – 1871).

In 1867 the present tower, designed by commander Ferguson was added. During the restoration of 1886 the walls of the building were raised and a tiled roof was added. The clock was placed in the new tower and the ‘dovecote’ was taken down.

In 1887 an organ balcony was built. In 1910, Rev. Eybers had a porch added on the street side, to ‘prevent annoying interior viewing.’ Rev. Eybers had the porch built at his own expense. The present day pews were transported from a church n the Netherlands to Kerki 1846 by Rev. A. van den Doel (pastor in Aruba, 1984 – 2001). Much of the church interior, such as the chairs, the pulpit, the organ, the lamps and the roof tiles also came from the Netherlands. Kerki 1846 served the congregation until 1950. In 1950, the large new Protestant church, now located next to Kerki 1846, opened its doors. Before that, this location was the house of the Aruban physician Dr. Horacio Oduber. On the site of Dr. Odubers former residence now stands the tower and the entrance to the large new church. 

The new 1950 church building, like many Aruban buildings was built ‘on the wind.’ 

Coral stone was used for construction, as was common at the time. Lime was extracted from the same type of stone. As a result, like all historic buildings in Aruba, both churches suffer from so-called ‘salt efflorescence.’ The salt and moisture present in the stone and lime cause the lime and plaster to flake. Re-plastering and whitewashing must therefore be done regularly. Larger restorations have happened a few times in the past 50 years: 1987 – 1988 and 2014 – 2017.

Kerki 1846 is open to visitors Monday to Friday, 9 – 12 AM.

In 2024 Kerki 1846 reopened its doors and Worship church Services in English are held every Sunday at 9 AM.