The St. Louis Republic., 1902-10-05
Offered $4,000 Toward $G3.9UO
Debt of Washington Heights
Baptist Congregation.
HE WILL ALSO PAY INTEREST.
Stipulated That Mission Society
and Members OF the Church
should Raise Twenty Thou
sand Dollars Each.
REpUElIc SPECIAL

REPUBLIC SPECIAL
New York. oct 4.-Th-oUgh tie Eenerosi-
~ o. John D. Rockefeller the Washington
Heights Baptist Church now sees the way
cu: % financial difficulties so seTio.=s that
The trustees were about 10 suggest that on
November : next the house Of worship b.
clos-t.
Nj Rockefeller guaranteed S27.s' q the
Indebtedness Ct S3.0i9 on the condition that
the Baptist City Mission Society give s9i.tuo
more The gift was accompanied by the
provision that the congregation shall in
three years raise the remaining S-e0O
through its own efforts. H also agreed To-
pay the interest during this time. The Of
Ter % Mr.. Rockefeller has been Submitted
TO the trustees and. slthough IL has not ss
Vet been formally accepted. the officers of
the church were overjoyed and enthusiastic
The S-n os $3.50 vas iumed!a teiy rv5-
scribed hy the trustees and their friends az
a general prayer meeting held after the Ses-
sion OF the trustees Then followed period
Of rejoicing and thankssis ING and the mem
hers Of the church vent away declaring
that 10 effort would be spared 70 raise The
Necessary turGs-
vEXED PROBLEM or CHURCH.
This Is Nj RockefclIer's solution of one
us The vtxet problems Of the Baptist ChuFcl
IN this city. The Washington Heights Bag
list Church g. one % the oldest Orsaniza-
lions u ghe denomination n NcW YORK. Ths
original house q worship was IN stanton
street. and Was known as the Union Baptls,
Church owing % th- trend % the pcl ala
tlon uorthWcrd q new house of worship
kn.wu ~ the TNcnty-third Street Baptist
Church vas in lsS5 Dedicated az lexington
avenue and Twcnty-third street Again t1e
tHcro@chmeu:s of business G-ove the men,
bers To seek homes the uppe- city.
The church property was soid foE slse,oi
an ra {
hsndSomesr ~ H. kind ~ the city was
bulk a. Convent avenue ard one HUNDRED
and E'urty-rrth street. at a cost or I35.FN
The sum OF slcaeJs was Invested In the new
building and a mortgage Of $500 VAS given
TO the Dry Dock Savings Institution The
conereEation took possession ot It's nv
home In lSsN. but even before that serious
disSelslOns had ari-en-
CHARGES AGAINST TRUSTEES
Il was charged that the trustees were too
deSiruus OF placing the heavy obligations of
building the church upon the eong5esstioa-
gia marble: another in hardware. and
third vas builder. They all insisted thai
they had sold supplies 20 the church pT5c-
tlcslly al cost. but there we're those who
thought they were oNeranSious IN the
The ediace. was built OF Georgia marble.
with a foundation Of Maine granite. ATchi
tecturally Il j. one OF the most imposing
houses ~ EorShip n the northern part os
the city. II Is said tkat IL has the largest
single church window IN the country.
Owing 20 the ssgreements IN the con-
= TNsaaAAI anu NnE AAlA AlAaA AAE ~
location aiienated many Of the old members.
the trustees found II dtdicult 10 meet eN-
lenses and 10 pay the interest
The sum Of 3 90 vas raised last year fo-
current expenses, but. although the congre-
cation was growing and the church was be-
ginning % really flourish and take root in
It's new surrounding. the trustees began
10 lose courage. because they saw TO way OF
reeting the principal of the mortgage
For this reason there vas serious consid-
Grafton of a plan tc close the church This
plan. owing 20 the ofie- Of Mr.. Rockefeller.
viii row be no longer necessary.