The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-03-25

inpulse, the project of new church
building was started, followed by hot
dispute as to its location, some prefer
ring tho North side, and some the South
i side, division Of feeling finally,
diverted attention and suddenly stopped
i the revival.
/ The building project, however. went
on. The Eorth-siders won the day as
to location. The defeated South-siders
sulked a little, Of course, and turned
luke warm. But the Bullans and Hale,
and Seymour, and Bennett, and the lows
lees, and Stryker, and Allen, who lived
on the North side, lifted all the harder,
and in spite ofhindrances and difficulties,
the house went up. It was 40 feet
by 90. with basement under one end,
cost 90, 900, and stood where the German
Methodist church now stands. The
principal business OF the town was at
this time on the North side, though very
soon afterward the laying out of the no.
Bile Park and the greater liberality OF
landowners, began to attract the tide
southwark. The newcomer of to-day
is amazed to learn that the first hotel
of Kenosha, the first store, and the first
school-house, were on Washington Island,
and that large and fashionable parties
were once given on spot which is now
almost deserted.
i Meanwhile, before the Church was
completed or even begun, the Academy,
after about four years of service as q
school building, first under Mr.. Kinney,
and then under Mr. L. T. Harvey,-af-
forwards Gov. Harvey, the honored "war
governor" Of our State.-bad been trans
formed, in the year 1842 or.1843, into q
hotel, which rendered it necessary for us
to find another mpOrary place of wor-
ship. This temporary place was The
!, "Yillage Hail." as it was called, which
was in the secoEd story of o building
which stood on or near the ground now
occupied by Mr.. Clark's Drug Store.
Here our people assembled until the
time of enterlng their own completed
sarctuary,-a period of one or two years.
The Church, having been finished,
was dedicated on the 26Jh of September
1874, which was the day following the
meeting of our District Convention at
Pleasant Prairie and the entire Con-
vention Of ministers and delegates was
invited to the dedication. Deacons,
Seymour, Bennett, and Wheeler were a
committee to provide entertainment
for them. The sermon was preached by
the Rev. E. D. Seward, who was the
pastor at the time, and the prayer of
dedication was by the Rev. MI. Peet Of
Milwaukee. Other clergymen took part
in the services.
This dedication was, Of course, o high
and grand occasion,--an event, not only
to Kenosha, but to Wisconsin,, and re-
garded with deep interest by the other
ministers and churches, the first finish
ed edifce of the oldest Congregational
church, perhaps, in the Territory. The
two pastorates of Rev. I. A. Hart and
Rev. John Grldley were accomplished
while the building remained on the
North side This was an important
period in the history Of the church,
from 1916 to 1864 period Of several
revivals and of growth nthe church. This
was the period during which the trade
of the town eliminated and began toI
decline,-the period during which farm
ers brought their wheat all the way from
Beloit to this point for shipment, and
when strings of wagons milelong stood
often in our streets, waiting fer their
turn at the warehouse, and when, hav-
ing drawn their money for their grain,
the farmers bought their goods for their
families at our more than twenty stores.
Tue browning glory of our grain-trade
was right herein the five years from
As to 80. Then came the Hutchinson
wheat war;" as it was called, in which
our farmers lost Some $4,000 worth of
their produce-.a trifing swindle for
these times, but big one for that day,
and for the poor men who suffered.
Still, that would have been only TEN
porary gcare. It was not the "Hutchin-