Epworth United Methodist Church, Elgin, Illinois

A Brief History in Pictures and Documents

FIRST PASS : Pictures to be added as soon as I figure it out.

Ted Whittington, Church Historian

Note to the Reader: I have gone over many of the historical documents of Epworth United Methodist Church several times. Portions I look at even more. One thing is for sure, given the time needed, not all the data are verifiable. For example: Records show the first wedding as being performed on September 18, 1895. This appears to be true, although there are other records that indicate the first wedding was August 14, 1901. Since the 1895 date was penned in Rev. Briggs hand-writing I would accept this as being correct. Regardless, most of the early records were duly written by intelligent people, and I believe them to be extremely accurate. (tw)

Epworth’s first pastor, 1894 1899. He played on the Epworth softball team. He also kept detailed records.

In the April 14, 1894 Elgin Daily Courier, the article “A New Church” appeared. The following day, April 15, 1894 was the first time believers met for what would eventually become Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church, then Epworth United Methodist Church.

Rev. Charles A. Briggs, Sr. was the first pastor at Epworth. He was originally an employee of the Elgin National Watch Company. He accepted the challenge of the call to start a new mission church on the Southeast side of Elgin. He kept clear and legible records of the first years of our congregation. Among those records we find that Eliza (his wife), Charles A. Briggs, Jr. (his son, who later became a pastor), and a daughter Lucy. They lived at 319 Wabash, and were received into membership on October 1^st 1895, by letter from Grace M.E. Church.

A little trivia:

• The first infant baptized at Epworth was Lester Roy Matthews, son of William and Mary Matthews. Lester was born on November 27^th, 1895, and was baptized on February 26^th, 1896. Rev. C. A. Briggs performed the baptism.



• On September 1, 1895 Faith Mission was designated Epworth Methodist Church, with 37 charter members. Miss Lizzie Redeker suggested the name “Epworth” the home town of the brothers John and Charles Wesley, founders of the Methodist traditions.



• On September 18, 1895, just over 2 weeks since Epworth had officially become a Methodist congregation, Amiel G. Gable of South Elgin, married Miss Emma Trust of Elgin. He was 26. She was 19. Rev. C. A. Briggs married them in Elgin. This is Epworth’s first recorded marriage.



• A year later (Sept. 30, 1896) Rev. Briggs recorded that church membership stood at 55, with 13 probationers. The Sunday School stood at 204 members, with 17 teachers and officers, and an average Sunday attendance of 125.



• On January 1, 1897, Rev. Briggs wrote the first known history of Epworth. This was 2 years, 8 months and 15 days after he held the first Sunday meeting of Faith Mission in a storeroom at Raymond and Hastings streets. It was 1 year and 4 months after Faith Mission officially became Epworth Methodist Episcopal church.

An extract from the historical records showing church growth expenses for the first 4 years. (Note: The first two year, 1894 and 1895, were not recorded probably due to the fact that technically, most of that time, we were still a mission church sponsored by Grace Methodist Episcopal Church.

Below is Epworth’s first permanent home, it was begun in 1895 and completed in 1896. Various artifacts were put in a “time capsule” and placed inside the cornerstone. In this rare grainy photograph one can see the wires, the brick street, and the rails for the electric trolley line that was build at roughly the same time. In 1905, the building was lifted off its foundation and a basement was added. In celebration of the event, a number of former and local preachers were invited to speak. Rev. Porter of the African Methodist Episcopal Church spoke and sang a solo.

In 1969 it was sold, and, unfortunately torn down. We have a list of the contents of the time capsule, and pictures of them. However, the last I heard they contents are in the hands of the Pate family that last owned the building. The particular member of the family lives in Kentucky.

The picture below was taken some time after 1905, as the basement is visible. It was located on Saint Charles Street, at the corner of St. Charles and Bluff City Blvd.

On January 1, 1897 Rev. Briggs, using information printed earlier in the Courier. Wrote down this initial history of Epworth Church

The above picture is apparently some type of tent revival, welcoming Ernest Lyons the Methodist missionary to Philippines. According to the Dagupan online history (http://www.dagupan.com/city/history2.htm), he was the first protestant missionary to enter into Dagupan, Phillipines. He did so in 1906. There were a number of converts at that time. One minister at Epworth, from 1916 to 1919 was Rev. Charles Lyons. I am not sure if they were related.

1903: A special collection was taken up on June 7 to help pay for the new parsonage. Others gave who were former ministers, or friends of the church. One such friend was Mrs. David C. Cook, wife of the Sunday school literature entrepreneur. Her husband played a crucial role in the establishment of Grace Methodist church, and likely had some input as to the location for Epworth.

1913: The new building. This was our location for over 65 years.

September 1922: Auto-to-Church Sunday was celebrated as an interdenominational Evangelistic campaign throughout the city of Elgin. Above is a picture showing Epworth’s part in that celebration. Also of note is the brick street (St. Charles and Villa Streets merging together). The trolley rails are clearly seen, and near the top of the picture are the electric power lines for the trolley. About 4 blocks south, the trolley would pass by the previous Epworth location.

Below is a blown up portion of that picture, showing legible license plates, including 386-162.

Another blow-up picture from the Automobile Days picture: The man on the far right with his left hand in his pocket is Rev. George Green. He served Epworth from 1921 to 1929. During that time he wrote a weekly interdenominational column in the Courier describing the news going on in the various churches throughout Elgin.

Sept. 16, 1922: The announcement in the Courier News regarding the Auto-to-Church.

1926, September 4^th. One of Rev. Green’s weekly news articles that appeared in the Courier.

Dec 15, 1968, John G. Redeker’s birthday: He was a founding member of Epworth, and donated the original Pulpit Bible dating back to 1895.

1967: Epworth Youth Choir around 1967. This was one of Elaine Whittington’s choirs. Starting in the back row, L-R: David Broker (?), David Blankenship, Ted Whittington, Paul Burris. Middle row: Sue Neve, Nora Vaughan (?), Janis May, Gloria Scheid, Dale Ramsey. Front row: Paula Mills, Carole Breslich, Sue Anderson (?), Cinda Webb, Margo Glonka. Forty years later, we have not changed a bit.

1980: Rev. and Mrs. Lunsford at our temporary home at the Blue Moon Restaurant on Larkin Ave. The restaurant has since been torn down. The bar in the background could have made for interesting communions.

1980s: David and Goliath Children’s Choir musical, David Akemann is Goliath

Not sure of the names, Janis Denman may track it down.

1994: The year of our Centennial celebration. Rev. Thomas Potenza reads from the original Pulpit Bible which dates back to 1895.

1994: The Centennial banner, made by Rosy Whittington

1996: Construction for the new sanctuary.

1997: The inside of the current sanctuary, while it was under construction. This is one of my favorite pictures, as there seems to be something spiritual the way the light is coming through the open part of the roof.

Generations of Choir directors.

Elaine Whittington, Music Director Emeritus at Epworth directed the choirs in the 1960s and 1970s and started a number of traditions including: The singing Christmas Tree, the Christmon tree, yearly musical dramas, purchase of much of the current organ, dramatic dance. On one occasion she performed “In the Beginning…” based on Genesis 1. It was made up of some extremely effective avante guard music, using electronic noises, spoken parts, and directed using a stop watch.

Janis Denman was in Elaine’s early choirs, and considers Elaine to be her mentor. During the time Janis was directing, there was a noticeable growth in the membership of both the choir and the church.

Chris Cherry was in Janis’s choirs. He has since returned to school working on a Master’s program.

The Steinway is a gift given in honor of Stewart and Elaine Whittington.