The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-12-12
SUNDAYS DEDICATION
RECALLS HISTORY

The dedication of the handsome new
$780, 600 Methodist Episcopal church
Sunday. the Asbury Methodist church,
recalls some of the Interesting sbits of
the history Of Methodism in the valley.
The first congregation of Methodists
in Hood River. twenty years ago,
worshipped in a little frame butcher
| shop. A yellow, faded document,
signed March %. 1896. by W. H. Bish-
op, reads:
'The Asbury class of the Nj. f..
church was separated from the Bel
mont class in October, 1892, with the
following members: Mrs. w. II.
Bishop leader w. II. Bishop, Mrs.
Mercer, Mamie Mercer Mr.. Orser,
Mrs. Orser, Sadie Orser, NJ. II. Nickel
sen, Mrs. |. Nickelsen.
"fhe first public preaching service
was held December 81, 1892, being a
watch night service led by Rev. j. w.
Rigby, preacher in charge.
"Ihe first formal action, looking
toward church building. was taken
at a meeting held at the residence of
o. l.. Stranahan, April 10, 1893. There
were present the board of turstees,
consisting of Mrs. N. j. Mercer, Mrs.
|. Nickelsen and w. II. Bishop, TO-
gether with a number of the other
members. The meeting decided to
purchase lot /, block G in Waucoma,
consideration $780, At a later meet
ing. held May 8, j. Z. Watson and o.
l.. Stranahan were added to the board
of trustees and the present plan for
church was chosen. Several hundred
dollars in subscriptions were taken,
when owing to the financial depression
settling over the country, and inability
to get help from the chruch extension
society on satisfactory terms, the
building of the chruch was postponed
and temporary structure 24x32 was
erected in its stead.
''Soon after conference in 1896, Rev.
}. M. Dennison being pastor, the sub
ject of church building was revived.
The old location was not satisfactory
to some of the present members, so the
present site was purchased for $500.
A subscription aggregating $1,000 has
already been taken.
"lhe present board of trustees are {:
M. Ii. Nickelsen. chairman, w. II.
plhUOpt StCltLdtyt W -. DlIdudHdNt
Thomas Mcdonald, j. 7. Watson. The
building committee are: Humphrey
Peugh, chairman, f. Il. Jackson, j. p.
Watson, j. M. Dennison.
Rev. j. w. Rigby, one of the early
ministers here, has compiled the fol-
lowing facts for the Glacier:
1t is quite likely there was occa-
sionally an appointment filled earlier
than July 1871, but at that date Neha-
miah Doane organized a class of eight
members of whom Frank Sherrieb is
the only one now living. Mr.. Doane
was in charge at The Dales and was
followed by S S. Vandersall, in 1916.
He was followed by Jonh Kirkman.
Then there seems to have been a cessa-
tion for full ten years. In May 1886 F.
r. Spaulding was sent as supply min
lister until conference met. E. G.
Davis took charge in the fall About
this time the matter of a church build
ing began to be agitated. 1t was final
ly located at Belmont, as there were
more members there and more money
could be raised for the building of
church and parsonage. f. G. Johnson
took charge in 'S7 and 'S8 and was fol-
lowed by J. W. Helm in '89 and W. S.
Holcomb in 80 and 81. October II,
1891, j. w. Rigby reached the valley
and planned for aggressive work.
There were no members in Hood
River, nor could even room be obtained
for occupation until the fall of 1892.
Then services we're held in a little
butcher shop where the Paris Fair now
does business. In the mean time the
lot on the corner of Seventh and Oak
was purchased for 500. In the early
81 ring of 1893 revival meeting was
started in charge of J. Henry Wood,
then acting evangelist. and 30 men,
bers were added to the Hood River
class. Plans were now laid for a
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