- Religion - Janesville Sesquicentennial
-
- [Photograph; caption reads: The First Congregational Church,
at the intersection of Jackson and Dodge streets, burned in 1875.
It was rebuilt by the end of the year.]
-
- Congregationalists met in 1840s
- When delivering a sermon in 1895, as First Congregational
Church observed its 50th anniversary,
- the Rev. T. P. SWAIN said, in part:
- "Beloved friends ... this is my message to you. I pay
to you the tribute of a working, rather a wait-
- ing church; one of which finds its inspiration in labor,
and its blessedness in striving to attain. I bid you therefore
rise to the dignity of your high calling, and neither seeking
nor shunning the crosses and burdens of life, I would have you
cast behind you all useless regrets, and all memories of wasted
days, while you stand with lighted lamp and girded loins ready
to run in the race set before you."
- With this commission, the people of First Congregational
Church have been an integral part of the
- Janesville community from the church's inception. The stately
old church of cream-colored brick lends dignity to the corner
on which it stands, at 54 S. Jackson, surrounded by some of the
city's oldest large homes and amidst trees which reach the sky.
- The first meeting of the Congregationalists, according to
a church history, took place in "the new
- Court House on the hill, erected in the year 1842."
- There, on Feb. 11, 1845, the First Congregational church
of Janesville was organized, with 15
- members. On Feb. 16, the formation of the church was publicly
announced, and the Lord's Supper was observed.
- Although women in 1895 are considered by many to be the "backbone"
of the church and the
- numbers of female clergy are increasing, back in those days,
men pretty much ruled things - in church as well as other areas.
- However, because of one woman, First Congregational Church
is what it is, rather than a
- Presbyterian church. The scenario, as explained in a history
of the church, is as follows:
- In the early days Presbyterians and Congregationalists carried
on their Home Missionary work in
- the West through one organization, The American Home Missionary
Society. According to the Plan of Union in Wisconsin, as elsewhere,
each new church was to decide by a majority vote to which body
it would belong. That question came before those gathered in
the Court House that February day, and found them evenly divided
in their preferences. The first vote was a tie.
- But one of the proposed members, Mrs. Eleanor STRUNK,
had not voted, "because of her
- sensitiveness in regard to women taking any part in the direction
of church matters." But something had to be done and Mrs.
STRUNK was urged to vote "to settle this question."
"Very well," Mrs. STRUNK said, "if it depends
on me, it will be a Congregational church." And that settled
that.
- For some time after its organization, the church continued
to worship in the Court House, but within
- a year removed their services to the little red brick schoolhouse
on the east side of Division Street, midway between Milwaukee
and Court streets.
- In 1848, Timothy JACKMAN offered to donate a lot on
North Bluff Street for a church edifice,
- provided the church would remove the school house there and
"give the perpetual rent of a pew for his family in the
church."
- For some reason, this offer was rejected, and the site upon
which the church now stands was
- selected. The lot was purchased for the sum of $150.
- No plans or specifications were used, records indicate, and
work dragged for want of money. It
- was not until November 1849 that the roof was put on. Two
years after laying the cornerstone, In October 1850, the church
was dedicated.
- The pews in the church were owned by individuals who held
deeds on them, but were assessed to
- aid in support of the church.
- No sooner had the church been cleared of debt than the project
of a new one adequate to the
- growing wants of the congregation was talked of, and in 1867
an effort to raise the sum of $30,000 was made to erect an edifice
such as the wants of the church required.
- The amount decided on was insufficient, but in 1869 the church
was complete enough to be
- dedicated and used as a place of worship. The old church
was auctioned for $375. When complete, equipped and furnished,
the entire cost of the church, including the organ, was $48,000,
not including the lot.
- "This left a heavy debt on the church," records
say, "and $15,000 or thereabouts was borrowed of
- the Northeastern Mutual Life Insurance Co. (which was founded
in Janesville) to pay off indebtedness."
- A mere six years later, in 1875, the edifice was destroyed
by fire. These were days of despondency,
- but not hopelessness, for the congregation. A meeting was
held in May 1875 to discuss the question of reconstruction.
- A church history reports that after much pessimistic talk,
a member who had listened in silence rose
- and said, "I have no admiration for those Roman generals,
who when they lost a battle committed suicide. ...We have lost
our church, and if it is to be rebuilt, it must be now while
we feel the full force of the blow, the full extent of the loss."
- After some discussion, it was voted, without a dissenting
voice, to rebuilt. The edifice was com-
- pleted by December 1875 and was dedicated on Dec. 19.
- In June 1878 plans were presented for a new chapel.
- In a 50-year commemorative booklet published in 1895, the
writer ended with these words, "the
- language of the poet":
-
- "Look upward, look forward, press towards thy high aim,
- May the next half century extol thy good name.
- And nineteen forty-five find thee prosperous as now
- With laurel and palm closely twined round thy brow."
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