Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1913-12-18
CELEBRATE THE
35th ANNIVERSARY
Last Sunday Was Interesting Day for Audubon
Methodists Who Held Special Services.
Interesting Program in Evening.

A great many people enjoyed the
special services at the M. Il. church
last Sunday, when at the morning ser
vice hour the 35th anniversary of the
church organization in Audubon was
celebrated in a fitting and appropriate
manner. 1t was the first religious or
ganization in the town and the splendid
record that has been made from that
time until the present is something
every Methodist may well feel proud Of
In the evening Rev. Ed b. Cousins,
County Superintendent Ella NJ Stearns
and A. II Roberts read papers that
proved very interesting to those who
call Audubon their home. The town
was started in October while the church
was not organized until December of
the same year, yet no one could feel
happy without combining the two oc-
casions, aud celebrating them as one, q
The starting Of the town and the
church make splendid reading matter
for much of it has taken place during
the lifetime of great many of the peo-
pie who reside in the county. The his
tory of the church is so full of interest
that we print the article read by Rev.
Freedline at the morning service, which
was largely prepared by A. H. Roberts.
1t follows:
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE
CHURCH IN AUDUBON
Our beloved church has IN the hun
dred years just past rightsully earned
the name of being the most aggress-
siye and progressive of all churches.
being the first to herald the glad It'd
ings of salvation in nearly all new
countries, and Audubon was no ex-
ception to the rule. 1t is perhaps we,l
at this time to pause for a moment
and recount some of the battles fought,
some of the victories won, and to view
from this distance, some of the shad-
ows, and sunshine that have fallen
upon the work of the master in Au-'
dubon, that we may thereby gather
some inspiration. for the conflicts of
the future and be enabled to grid our
selves afresh for new victories. VI
At the meeting of the Des Moines
conference in 1875, Extra circuit was
divided and a new circuit formed
named Hamlin. and including all of
Audubon county north of Extra. Rev.
j. M. Bay was sent as pastor and at
a salary of $4,000 served one year
Then came Rev. G. II. Detwiler, who
served very acceptably two yeaIFs BY
reference to minutes OF thesYourtif
quarterly conference, held Aug. 10
1878. we find that Gro S. ID. Coonrod
was appointed a committee to secure
church property in the new town (as
Audubon was then called. At the
conference of 1878, Rev. Detwiler was
succeeded by Rev. j. w. Lewis, under
whose pastorate the class in Audubon
was organized. At the first quarterly
conference of this year, held at Irwin,
Nov. Z, 1878, the pastors salary was
placed at $500, and apportioned as
follows Irwin, 1925; Viola, 5000;
Audubon, 800; Diggs, 500 This
would indicate that the membership
of that quarterly conference had
faith in the new town; for there had
not up to this time been any religious
service in the town, neither was there
public building in which services
could be held. But that school build.
ing on Davenport street was then in
course of construction and on Decem-
Der 18th following the first service
was held, being a sermon by Rev. J. W.
Lewis, the congregation consisting OF
services were held every two weeks.
First in the above mentioned school
house, then in the court house, and
later in the new school building, and
finally in the present church. As
time passed the services were in
creased to one service each Sunday,
and later to two services.
The second quarterly meeting for
the year of 1873, WAS held in Audi
bon, Feb. and 8, 1879, at which time
A. H. Roberts was elected trustee for
Audubon and committee appointed
to solicit funds for the erection of a
parsonage in town. The committee
did not meet with the success deemed
necessary in order to undertake the
work, so the matter was dropped.
The first communion service held in
the town was at this meeting and Au-
dubon was reported as having paid
$500 to support the ministry.
On April 10, 70, our Sunday school
WAS organized and the following Of
ficers elected: Supt., A. H. Roberts;
Assistant Supt, Chester Wheeler; Sec
rotary, Miss Kate Cameron; Treasur-
er, f. w. Beghtol. Number of scholars
present, 3d. For more than year
this was the only Sunday school in
town. Some time during the same
month our. society, or class, was or
ganized and Bro. M. ID. Bailey appoint
ed leader.
At the third quarterly meeting al
Irwin, May l, Il. w, Beghtol, s. II.
Schryver and Chester Wheeler were
added to the board or trustees, At
the fourth quarterly meeting a resolu-
ton was passed, requesting the name
of the circuit be changed from Hamlin
to Audubon. Accordingly the annual
conference in Sept. 70, changed the
name to Audubon circuit and sent
Rev A. w. Armstrong as pastor,
whose salary was placed at $500, APP
portioned as follows: Audubon, $3.50;
Irwin, $3.50; Viola, $3.50; Cameron,
$50; the Diggs appointment being
dropped. Sept. 22d, the board of trus-
tees, composed of P. Mckinley, Ches-
ter Wheeler, ]. A. Miller, s. H. Schry-
yer and A. H. Roebrts executed Arti-
cles of Incorporation as provided by
the laws of the state, and steps were
taken. looking toward the erection of
q church edifce, q subscription being
: started, headed three $50 sub
scriptions. The first money paid
toward the enterprise was 81 by S. w.
Smith, Sept. rs. 70.
After the completion of the court
house, we were permitted to use it
until January. 1880. when through the
kindness of the board of directors We
We're permitted to furnish and use
the east upstairs room in the new
school building. This We continued