- Religion - Janesville Sesquicentennial
-
- [Photograph; caption reads: First Presbyterian Church, as
it looked in earlier days, is located across from city hall.]
-
- Church began with 12 members
- People say, "You know, the church across from city hall."
- That's First Presbyterian Church. When people hear those
words, they have an immediate image
- of the imposing red brick structure at 17 N. Jackson with
its steeple reaching to the sky.
- With modern conveniences where they are needed, the church
has retained its gracious look of
- antiquity.
- The kitchen meets the needs of a large church. The pastor's
study is paneled. Ceiling fans in the
- sanctuary help keep warm air circulating in the winter, cool
breezes on hot summer days.
- On the others side of the basement from the modern kitchen
is a parlor area, appointed with
- beautiful antique chairs given to the church through the
years.
- Upon entering the sanctuary, one feels the warmth of old
wood, stained glass windows and padded
- pews, the last not common these days.
- Janesville was an incorporated city of 7,000 people when
First Presbyterian was formed - in 1855.
- A group of 12 people indicated an interest in forming a Presbyterian
church when a Rev. Moses
- W. STAPLES came to Janesville in March 1855. STAPLES
had been organizing new churches in Texas and was brought to
Wisconsin for that purpose.
- Services were held in the Old Stone Academy until the Presbytery
appointed a committee to visit
- Janesville to organize a church. On May 5, 1855, letters
were received from the 12 charter members who wished to join
the new church.
- Services continued to be held in the Stone Academy, at a
cost of $1 per Sunday, church records
- indicate, but soon land where the present church stands was
purchased. After obtaining financial aid, church members worked
together to make the sanctuary ready for use.
- The first edifice was a frame building 29 feet wide by 48
feet long, sided with clapboard and
- painted white. The building reportedly cost about $1,500.
This building was dedicated on Sept. 15, 1855.
- By May of 1858, there were 80 members of the church. On Oct.
24, 1858, the second pastor
- was installed at First Presbyterian. He came to this area,
as church records say, "because at that time Wisconsin was
noted for being a very healthful state.
- Before the end of 1860, the church, or chapel, as it was
called then, was increased by 13 feet. As
- early as 1885 plans were under way to build a new edifice
on the same site. On Feb. 19, 1891, a committee reported that
construction of the church was to be done at a contract of $13,000.
- The contract called for cream-colored brick, but press red
brick was later substituted, "a special
- subscription paying for the extra cost."
- On Feb. 18, 1892, the church was dedicated. On that date
the Gazette ran a headline, "New
- Church Is Ready - Not a Debt Left." The account further
stated that "In a sanctuary banked with flowers the Presbyterians
received their friends. A great throng was at the dedication.
All Janesville was there and every pew filled."
- Stained glass windows, some of which are today the originals,
were gifts from the families of
- Warren NORTON, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel ROLSTON,
and Charles Wiley, son of Mrs. A. D. WICKHAM.
- In 1914, a church history says, "pew rent was discontinued."
With increased revenue improvements
- were made. A cement walk was built and trees and shrubbery
were planted. Electric lights were installed in the sanctuary
and an electric motor and blower were purchased for the organ.
- At that time, the manse, next to the church, "had not
been very desirable as a home for the
- ministers' families but had proven to be a good investment,
renting for as high as nine hundred dollars a year."
- In 1929, it was sold to WHALEY and OVERTON
for $15,000, and since has housed
- OVERTON Funeral Home.
|
