History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 152

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 152

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In December, 1852, a lot, ninety-five by one hun- dred and sixteen feet, situated on the north west corner of Washington Avenue and Eighth Street, was bought from Silas Wood, of New York, for thirteen thousand dollars, and in April following the Fourth Street property was sold to W. G. Clark for fifty thousand dollars. The building on the new site seats nine hundred persons, and was dedicated Dec. 31, 1854, by Rev. C. B. Parsons. On the 2d of July preceding the congregation had met in the old Fourth Strcet Church for the last time. On this occasion Rev. John Hogan, who had been among the most active of the members of the church, delivered an ad- dress, after which the congregation and Sunday-school formed in procession and marched to the basement of the new church. Services preliminary to the dedica- tion were performed by the Rev. R. A. Young, after which Mr. Hogan read a communication from Col. John O'Fallon, first superintendent of the Sunday- school, expressing regret at his inability to be present and participate in the exercises. Rev. Dr. Cummings introduced the dedicatory exercises by reading a se- lection from chap. viii. of 1st Kings, and offered the dedicatory prayer and pronounced the benediction. The dedicatory sermon was preached by the Rev. Charles B. Parsons, D.D., of Louisville, Ky. The building was of brick, and its dimensions were one hundred and six by sixty-five feet. It was forty-five feet in height, and had a tower one hundred and forty-three feet high. In the basement there was a large room, used for holding minor services, society meetings, etc., three class-rooms, and the minister's office. The architect was G. I. Barnett, and the building committee John Finney, Levin A. Baker, and J. T. Dowdall. The ground, church, and par- sonage cost about fifty-five thousand dollars.

The congregation, which had previously been known as the Fourth Street Church, adopted the designa- tion of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. An adjoining lot, fronting twenty-seven feet on Wash-

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ington Avenue, was subsequently purchased and a parsonage erected on it. In 1874-75 the vacant space around the church was built up for busi- ness purposes, the additions, in the Tudor style, becoming part of the edifice and giving it a cas- tellated appearance. Early in 1882 the property was sold to Messrs. Leighton & Chapman, wlio began in March, 1882, to tear it down for the purpose of erecting on its site a number of ware- houses. The congregation met for a time in Dr. Post's old church, now occupied by the Young Men's Temperance Union, at Tenth and Locust Streets, and afterwards in the Young Men's Christian Association's church at Eleventh and Locust Streets. The con- struction of a handsome stone edifice for the use of this congregation, situated at the corner of Glasgow Avenue and Dayton Street, was commenced in 1882.

The successive pastors of the church,1 with the dates of the Conferences appointing them, have been :

Jesse' Walker, 1821; William Beauchamp, 1822; John Scripps, 1823; Andrew Monroe, 1824-25; John Dew, 1826; Alexander McAlester, 1827; Andrew Monroe, 1828-29; Joseph Edmondson, 1830 ; John S. Barger, 1831; Joseph Edmondson, 1832; Edmund W. Sehon, 1833; Thomas B. Drummond,? L. B. Stateler, 1834; George W. Bewley, L. Janes, 1835; Thomas Wallace, 1836 ; Edward R. Ames, 1837 ; Silas Comfort, William M. Dailey, George Smith, 1838; George C. Light, William M. Dailey, 1839; Wesley Browning, James L. Forsythe, 1840; William Patton, 1841; Joseph Boyle, D. W. Pollack, 1842; Joseph Boyle, George Smith, 1843; Wesley Browning, E. M. Marvin, 1844; C. B. Parsons, 1845-46 ; J. H. Linn, W. T. Cardwell, 1847 ; J. H. Linn, 1848-49, succeeded by J. A. Henning, June, 1849 ; F. A. Morris, Abraham Milice, 1849; Joseph Boyle, J. N. W. Springer, 1850-51; W. R. Bab- cock, 1852; R. A. Young, 1853-54; C. B. Parsons, 1855-56 ; Enoch M. Marvin, 1857 ; E. M. Marvin, William F. Compton, 1858; F. A. Morris, 1859-63 (served supply as the first year) ; Joseph Boyle, 1864-66; W. F. Camp, 1867; George H. Clinton, 1868-69; W. M. Leftwich, G. H. Clinton (supply), 1870; J. W. Lewis, 1871; L. M. Lewis, 1873; T. M. Finney, 1874-76; J. E. Godbey, 1877-78 ; E. M. Bounds, 1879; W. G. Miller, 1880-81 ; J. C. R. Hicks, 1882.

The church reported to the Conference which met in the fall of 1881 that its membership, including probationers, numbered one hundred and cighty-eight persons, and that there were twenty-four teachers and two hundred and twenty-five scholars connected with the Sunday-school. The latter was organized in 1822 by Rev. Jesse Walker, John and William Finney, Mrs. Kells, R. D. Sutton, and several others. The value of the church property, as reported to the Con- ference of 1881, was one hundred thousand dollars.

St. Paul's Church .- On the 2d of March, 1838, the trustees of the Fourth Street (First) Methodist Episcopal Church resolved " that it is expedient to build two new Methodist Churches in St. Louis," and appointed two committees to select sites. Of these churches the first erected was afterwards known as St. Paul's, and the second as the Centenary. St. Paul's, then known as Mound Chapel, was built in 1839, and was situated "a little north of the mound" on Broadway. Previous to this the congregation had worshiped in Mound Market. In 1850 the second church, located at Tenth and Chambers Streets, and known as Mound Church, was erected, but in 1865 the property was sold, and a lot at Twelfth and North Market Streets was purchased, but no church was built on the proposed site. A chapel was subse- quently erected at the northeast corner of Tenth and Benton Strects, and the name of the congregation changed to that of St. Paul's. The building was a one-story brick structure, and seated about three hundred persons. The site of the present church, on St. Louis Avenue near West Sixteenth Street, was purchased about 1871 for five thousand dollars. It fronts one hundred feet on St. Louis Avenue, and has a depth of one hundred and forty feet. The erection of the building was commenced in 1874, and the completed edifice was dedicated in June, 1875, by Rev. Dr. Young, of Nashville, Tenn. It cost about fifteen thousand dollars, and its dimensions are forty by eighty feet, the seating capacity being three hundred and eighty persons. The first regular pastor of St. Paul's Church, as appears by the min- utes of Conference, was Rev. W. T. Ellington, ap- pointed in 1868, the congregation having in previous years been served by supplies. Since 1868 its pas- tors have been Revs. E. M. Bounds, 1873, 1875-78, 1880-82; W. M. Leftwich, 1874; B. W. Key, 1879. The present pastor is Rev. E. M. Bounds. The mem- bership of the church numbers one hundred and thir- teen, and the Sunday-school has sixteen teachers and one hundred and fifty scholars.

Centenary Church .- This church was one of the two congregations organized in accordance with the action of the trustees of the Fourth Street Church, taken on the 2d of March, 1838. At the meeting of the trustees on this occasion committees were appointed to select sites for two new Methodist Churches, one of these committees being instructed to choose' a location on Fifth Street, not farther soutlı than Poplar. In the autumn of 1839 the centenary of Methodism was celebrated by the Methodists of St. Louis, then numbering three hundred and thirty- five white and one hundred and forty-eight colored

1 Where two names appear in the same year the second is that of the pastor of the African Church, which was regarded as part of the Fourth Street charge.

2 Mr. Drummond died soon after taking charge of his work. He was a man of brilliant talents and fervent zeal.

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members, embraced in three stations,-Fourth Street, Mound (afterwards St. Paul's), and African. The exercises were held at the Fourth Street Church, and on this occasion the sum of three thousand dollars was subscribed for the erection of a new church to be known as the " Centenary," in commemoration of the event. On the 9th of November, 1841, Rev. Wes- ley Browning, then presiding elder of the St. Louis District, appointed William Burd, John H. Gay, Trusten Polk, James Tabor, and John and David Goodfellow trustees to conduct the management of the enterprise. The amount originally subscribed was found to be inadequate, and in order to raise an additional sum the ladies of the congregation organ- ized " The Female Centenary Society of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church." Through the efforts of this association two thousand dollars was secured and ex- pended in part payment for a lot, sixty-five by eighty- five feet, at the southwest corner of Fifth and Pine Streets, the total cost of which was ten thousand five hundred dollars. On this site was erected a brick building with a cut-stone basement, the latter devoted to school purposes. The corner-stonc was laid on the 10th of May, 1842, with Masonic rites, and the officiating ministers were Bishop Roberts and Rev. E. R. Ames. While the building was in course of construction services were held in a small frame house which had been purchased by the congregation. The basement of the new edifice was first occupied Dec. 31, 1843, watch-night services being held, and the structure was completed and dedicated in 1844.

At a meeting of the members of the congregation in the spring of 1867, it was decided to dispose of the church property and select a more eligible site. The lot at the northwest corner of Sixteenth and Pine Streets, on which the church now stands, was finally chosen and purchased for thirty-eight thousand dollars. In October, 1868, the old churchi and grounds were sold to J. J. Roe & Co. for one hundred and forty-two thousand dollars, but the congregation re- tained the use of the buildings until the new church was ready for occupancy. The board of trustees at that time was composed of Trusten Polk, John Hogan, John Kennard, John W. Burd, W. H. Markham, Mr. Maxwell, C. C. Anderson, W. C. Jamison, and P. M. Lockwood. The building committee consisted of Trusten Polk, John Hogan, W. H. Markham, John Kennard, and John W. Burd. The corner-stone was laid on the 10th of May, 1868, and the building was dedicated on the 28th of May, 1871. Bishops C. K. Keener, of New Orleans, and E. M. Marvin, of Mis- souri, and Rev. D. McAnally and the pastor, Rev. C. D. N. Campbell, took part in the exercises. Bishop

Keener preached the sermon. The total cost of the structure was one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The building is of Gothic architecture, and the material composing the walls is St. Louis prairie limestone, with De Soto stone trimmings. The ınain entrance is on Sixteenth Strect, where there are five large doorways. The entrance is through a vestibule fourteen feet wide by ninety long, containing four stair- ways. Black walnut, oak, aslı, and yellow-pine are the woods principally used in fitting up the interior, which has a very elegant appearance. The auditorium is sixty feet wide by one hundred and six long. Under this there is a lecture-room and a school-room. Ad- joining the church on Pine Street there are two other buildings, containing the pastor's office, library-rooms, and a young men's Methodist room for literary pur- poses. The pastor's residence is west of these, and contains sixteen rooms. The church and parsonage cover an area of one hundred and nine feet by one hundred and sixty. Thomas Dixon, of Baltimore, was the architect, and J. B. Legg, of St. Louis, superin- tended the erection of the building.

The first regular pastor was the Rev. John H. Linn, who was transferred in the autumn of 1842 from the Kentucky Conference and appointed to the charge of Centenary Church. Mr. Linn was succeeded by the Rev. John T. W. Auld, who was followed by the Rev. Joseph Boyle, appointed in 1844, who remained until 1846. In that year Mr. Boyle was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas H. Capers, who had been transferred from South Carolina. The other pastors have been Rev. Messrs. W. H. Lewis, appointed in 1848; W. M. Prottsman, 1849; J. C. Berryman, 1850; D. R. McAnally, 1851; M. F. Treslow, 1855; E. M. Marvin, 1858; C. B. Parsons, John Whittaker, Evan Ste- phenson, E. M. Marvin, W. Anderson, and Jesse H. Cummins acting as " supplies" during 1858, 1859, and 1860; J. Boyle, 1861; T. A. Morris, 1863; W. A. Smith, 1865; C. N. D. Campbell, 1868-69 ; J. H. Linn, Joseph Boyle (supply), 1870 ; J. H. Linn, 1873; W. V. Tudor, 1874-77 ; J. W. Lewis, 1878-81; W. V. Tudor, 1882. The church reported to the Conference of October, 1881, a membership of five hundred and ten persons, with thirty-five teachers and four hundred and twenty-five pupils in the Sun- day-school.

St. John's Church 'is situated at the northwest corner of Ewing Avenue and Locust Street, and its pastor is the Rev. J. W. Lewis. In 1844 the Fourth Street Church appointed a committee to select a lot for a new church in Christy's addition, and on the 19th of May, 1845, instructed the committee to build a church as soon as their means permitted. The result

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

was the erection, some three or four years later, of Asbury Chapel, at the corner of Fifteenth and Gay Streets. About the year 1864, Nathan Coleman or- ganized a Sunday-school in Stoddard's addition, and of this St. John's Church is the outgrowth. On the 5th of December, 1864, the Quarterly Conference of the First Church ordered the sale of Asbury Chapel, the pro- ceeds to be placed in the hands of a joint committee to be appointed by the Quarterly Conferences of Asbury Chapel, First and Centenary Churches. Sub- sequently, during the presiding eldership of the Rev. T. M. Finney, a congregation of seventy-five persons was organized as St. John's Church, and the chapel was sold for the use of the colored Catholics, and is now St. Elizabeth's Church. The money thus ob- tained, supplemented by large subscriptions, was used in the erection of a church and chapel on the present site. The corner-stone of these buildings was laid June 26, 1867, with Masonie ceremonies, and the chapel was completed and dedicated on the 9th of May, 1869. Bishop Pierce preached the sermon on that occasion, and the Hon. John Hogan and the venerable minister, Andrew Monroe, delivered ad- dresses. At this time the congregation had increased to two hundred members.

In the winter of 1879 extensive alterations and im- provements were made, and on the 6th of April of that year the church was re-dedicated and used for the first time. Its site has a frontage of one hundred feet on Locust Street and a depth of one hundred and thirty- four feet eight inches on Ewing Avenue, and it has a seating capacity of eight hundred persons. The pas- tors have been Revs. T. A. Morris, 1868-71 ; J. W. Lewis, 1872-75; J. G. Wilson (now presiding elder), 1876-79; W. V. Tudor, 1880-81; J. W. Lewis, 1882. Connected with the congregation are a La- dies' Sewing Society; the "Busy Bees," composed of young ladies and children ; the Women's Missionary Society, and other organizations. The membership in October, 1881, was reported at three hundred and sixty-five, with thirty-three teachers and four hundred and ten scholars in the Sunday-school.

First Church, Carondelet .- The First Methodist Episcopal Church South in Carondelet, known also as the South St. Louis First Church, is situated at the southwest corner of Fifth and Nebraska Streets. It was organized by Rev. D. R. McAnally, D.D.,1

1 D. R. McAnally was born in Granger County, Tenn., Feb. 17, 1810, and is descended from an old Scotch family which came to this country before the Revolution, and settled in Ten- nessee when it was still a wilderness. He worked occasionally on his father's farm, but received a good education at a private school. He commenced the study of law, but abandoned it for

with nine members, in June, 1857, in the pres- ent building, which had been erected and dedi- eated on the 17th of May, 1857. The rules of the church Conference require that pastors of churches shall be changed at least once in four years, but to this church no pastor was appointed by the Confer- ence for twelve years, it being left from year to year " to be supplied." It thus happened that Dr. Mc- Anally's connection with the church, as virtual though not nominal pastor, remained unbroken during the whole period, his name meanwhile only appearing in the Conference minutes as editor of the St. Louis Christian Advocate. In 1869, when Rev. T. M. Finney succeeded him as editor of the Advocate, Dr. MeAnally was appointed pastor of the church, and was successively reappointed until, in 1872, he again became editor of the Advocate. He " supplied" the church until 1874, when the Conference appointed J. W. Robinson to its pastorate. The congregation had become deeply attached to its pastor, and was loth to sever a connection that had lasted continuously for over seventeen years and to be brought under the rule of itineraney. In 1875 the Conference appointed

that of the ministry, and on the 31st of August, 1829, he was authorized to preach. In December, 1829, he was received on trial by the Annual Conference, and appointed to a circuit. In November, 1831, he was ordained with full powers of the min- istry, and preached in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and other States until 1843, when he was appointed president of the East Tennessee Female Insti- tute, at Knoxville. In 1851, at the invitation of the St. Louis and Missouri Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, Dr. McAnally removed to St. Louis in order to conduct the St. Louis Christian Advocate, and to take charge of the book publishing interests of his church. Dr. McAnally re- mained in the editorial management of the Advocate until the outbreak of the war in 1861. In May of that year the Advo- cate was suppressed and its editor imprisoned, as being inimi- cal to the Union, by the military authorities. In July, 1861, he was tried by a court-martial, the verdict of which was sent to Washington but never returned, and during the remainder of the war he was kept on parole and forbidden to leave St. Louis County. He was frequently rearrested, imprisoned, and released. After the war the Advocate was revived, with Dr. McAnally in the editorial chair, and he remained in charge of the paper until just previous to the formation of the Southwestern Book and Publishing Company in 1869, when he resigned and en- gaged in an educational enterprise in Carondelet. The academy he established there proved successful, and assisted by several other teachers he maintained it for nearly four years. Dr. Mc- Anally's successor in the editorship of the Advocate was the Rev. T. M. Finney, but in 1872 the Southwestern Book and Publishing Company recalled Dr. McAnally to the editorship, and he has remained in charge ever since. Dr. McAnally cele- brated the fiftieth anniversary of his entrance into the ministry at the Carondelet Church on the 31st of August, 1879. He has written a number of works, among them being a biography of " Martha Lawrence Ramsay," " Life and Times of Mr. William Patton," "Sunday-School Manual," etc.

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Wesley Browning pastor, and in 1876, John Garton, but the congregation refused to recognize the last ap- pointment or to support the minister. Consequently in 1877 the church was cut off from its connection with the Conference, and continued as an independent organization, with Dr. MeAnally as pastor. The church lot measures one hundred and ten by one hun- dred and fifteen feet, and the church building twenty- six by forty-five feet. The property is valued at three thousand dollars, and the membership is reported at three hundred persons. The Sunday-sehool is at- tended by from eight to ten teachers and from eighty to one hundred and thirty scholars.

Chouteau Avenue Church .- In September, 1841, a class-meeting was organized at the house of Reuben Russell, on Convent Street, and this formed the nueleus of Wesley Chapel. In 1842, Wesley Brown- ing being then the presiding elder of the St. Louis District, the extreme northern and southern portions of the city were formed into a station, which was placed in charge of Rev. T. W. Ould, and in the fol- lowing year the southern charge was constituted a separate station and designated as the South St. Louis Church, Rev. W. M. Rush, pastor. In 1844 a church building known as Wesley Chapel was erected on Paul Street, between Chouteau Avenue and Hickory Street, and was dedicated by the Rev. Jonathan Stamper. · The pastor, according to the Conference reports of 1844, was the Rev. John A. Tutt. In 1848 the con- gregation removed to a lot at the northeast corner of Chouteau Avenue and Eighth Streets, and began the erection of another building, which, however, before being completed was demolished by a storm. The structure was rebuilt and dedicated by Rev. D. S. Doggett in 1850. It was a plain two-story brick building forty by seventy feet, and seated about three hundred persons. The building was demolished in 1873, and the present edifice, a neat briek structure, with a capacity for seating three hundred and fifty persons, was ereeted at the same locality. The name was changed at this time from Wesley Chapel to that of Chouteau Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church South. The pastors sinee then have been Revs. J. H. St. Clair, 1873; F. A. Owen, 1874-75; W. M. Williams, 1876; J. J. Watts, 1877-79; B. W. Key, 1880; W. R. Mays, 1881-82. The report of October, 1881, showed that the congregation then numbered seventy-three members, and that there were thirteen teachers and one hundred and twenty-five pupils in the Sunday-school.

Marvin Mission, 2629 Menard Street, Rev. D. Q. Travis, pastor, grew out of a Sunday-school organ- ized by a Mr. Ray in a blacksmith's shop in 1859.

A room was afterwards rented, and the school con- tinued for four years under the care of its founder and Simon Boogher. It had a checkered career, being frequently elosed for months at a time and re- opened, until the formation of the present organiza- tion. The mission now owns a lot fronting thirty-five feet on Menard Street, and a frame building for wor- ship with a seating capacity of two hundred and sixty- five, which was dedicated Dee. 29, 1874. The prop- erty is valued at three thousand dollars. The pastors have been Revs. Wesley Browning, J. W. Robertson, Staunton, J. J. Watts (appointed September, 1875), W. R. Mays (appointed September, 1877), D. Q. Travis, appointed September, 1881. The mem- bership of the church is one hundred and forty ; the Sunday-school has nineteen teachers, and an attendance of between two hundred and three hundred scholars.

Page Avenue Church was organized in 1877 with twelve members. J. T. Dowdall, E. S. Greenwood, and Rev. J. T. Watson were the first official board, and Rev. R. F. Chew was the first pastor. Rev. B. F. Key succeeded him in 1878, and was followed in 1879 by Rev. J. E. Godbey, who has been pastor sinee. The ereetion of a church building is contem- plated, but in the mean time the congregation oceu- pies a chapel on Page Avenue near Grand Avenue. The membership numbers seventy-four persons, and the average attendance at the Sunday-school, of which R. M. Seruggs is superintendent, is two hundred and forty.

THE GERMAN METHODISTS.

Prior to 1841 there was no organization of German Methodists west of Indiana, but in that year the Mis- souri Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church established the Belleville mission in Illinois, and the St. Louis and Pinekney missions in Missouri. Rev. L. S. Jacoby was appointed to the St. Louis mission, and took charge of it in August, 1841. He rented a meeting-house from a Presbyterian organization, and commeneed preaching with great success. At the close of his first year's labors he reported one hundred and fourtecn members, besides numerous others who had joined the society but had removed to other places. He was reappointed for a second year, during which he greatly strengthened the foundations of the prosperous German societies, of which there are now four in the eity. St. Louis Distriet was in 1845, with the other missions in Missouri and Illinois, transferred from the Missouri to the Illinois Conference, with L. S. Jacoby and William Nast as presiding elders.

Dr. Nast was extensively known as the father of German Methodism, and labored with great sue- eess in St. Louis. He was a native of Germany,

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

where he had been highly educated, and as a young man emigrated to America. His attention was at- tracted to the subject of religion by the preaching of the Rev. Mr. Romer on the banks of the Hudson River. He was then teaching in West Point, and subsequently became a professor in Kenyon College, Ohio. After three years of mental conflict he was converted in January, 1835. Through the agency of Dr. Adam Poe he was induced to become a minister, and in the same year was sent as missionary to Cin- cinnati. Through his efforts German Methodist publications werc commenced, the first issues being the General Rules, Articles of Faith, and the Wes- leyan Catechism. The Christian Apologist was soon issued under his editorial supervision, and he re- mained the editor for more than forty years. Under his preaching in Cincinnati John Swahlen was con- verted, becoming afterwards an efficient and successful evangelist, and Dr. Jacoby, who subsequently associated with him in the missionary work in Missouri and Illi- nois, was also among his early converts. Dr. Nast organized the first German Methodist Society in 1838, and reported to Conference thirty members.

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 152

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358