The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-03-06
WILL RE-DED|CATE CHURCH
Observance of Anniversary and Re
dedication of the Church to Make a
Notable Festival for Methodists in
Kencsha- First Church in Southport

Members of Park Avenue M. E.
Church are planning for a notable an
niversary of Methodism in Kenosha
to attend the. re-dedication Of Park
Avenue Church. The services will be-
gin on March 14th and continue
through March 10th and in connection
with the re-dedication of the church
there will be celebrated the seventy
fifth anniversary Of Methodism in
Kenosha. 1t is expected that the cele-
b1ation will bring a notable gathering
of the members, former members and
former pastors of the church.
Methodism in Kenosha antedates
any other religious organization and
the first settlers Of the city and county
brought with them Methodist beliefs
and shortly after they reached Keno
sha they organized a Methodist class
meeting. jonathan Pierce, who came
with his family to the banks of the
Pike River in May Of 1885, is credit
ed with being the founder of the
church in this section. 1t is said in
the history Of Methodism in Wiscon-
sin that he was the first white man to
come to the shores Of Pike River. On
August 9, 1885, the first prayer meet
ing was held at the home of the
Pierce family.
Religious meetings were held by the
Methodists in Southport from this
time until today, but it was not until
1887 that the first class was formed.
This class was made up Of the Rev. r.
M. Deming, Austin Kellogg, Armenia
Kellogg, Jonathan Pierce, Charles
Durkee, Mrs. Harvey Durkee, John w.
Dana, Martha E. Dana and Susan
Dana.
The first quarterly conference in
Southport was held in November of
1887, the Rev. S. Stebbins being the
presiding elder of the district and O..
F. Curtis the pastor of the church.
The first Methodist church in South
port was dedicated January IL, 1843.
It stood at the intersection of Main
street and Park avenue, but later it
was removed to the site at the corner
Of Park avenue and English Court.
This church was destroyed by fire
February 4, 1888. The second church
was built on the ruins of the old and
it was dedicated on December 16, 1888.
1t remained in the service of the con-
gregation until the present church was
built in 1906. This splendid edifce
proved too small for the congregation
and work on large addition was
started in the fall of 1912. 1t has Just
been completed and it gives to the
Park avenue congregation the largest
and most commodious church in the
city.
The celebration Of the seventy-ffth
anniversary Of the founding Of the
church will be in the nature of ban
quet to be held on the evening of
March 18th. It is expected that from
five hundred to six hundred people
will attend the banquet. E. Il. Grant
will act as POSTMASTER at the ban
quet and there will be responses by
prominent members of the congrega-
tion and by former pastors.
The services of dedication will take
place on Sunday, March 10th, when
Bishop Mcdowell of Chicago, will
preach the sermon Of dedication.
More detailed announcement Of the
program for the anniversary banquet
and the dedication service will be
made later. The committees in charge
Of the two events are now busy and
it is promised that the two days will
bring a notable Methodist rally in
the city,