McHenry Public Library District Digital Archives

McHenry Plaindealer (McHenry, IL), 6 Aug 1975, p. 74

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i CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH Eastwood-Lincoln McHenry Open Christian Science Church Jan. 14, 1962 On April 5, 1961, three Christian Scientists met for the purpose of starting a Christian Science organization in McHenry. The first service was held May 21 in the home of one of the group. As the numbers grew, the McHenry Masonic Temple was rented. The first service there was heild Jan. 14, 1962. Recognition as a branch of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass.r was granted Aug. H, 1963, and the group became known as Christian Science society, McHenry. After holding services in the Masonic Temple for five years, the society purchased four lots and a building at the corner of Lincoln road and Eastwood lane, where they still meet. During the winter of 1974, plans <1t) complete a program of alterations and improvements to the building were going forward. Steps are also being taken toward becoming First Church of Christ, Scientistsw McHenry, which includes a public reading room. Sunday services are held at 10:30 a.m. and Sunday School convenes at the same time, the Sunday School, which is for young people through their teens, has a comparatively large attendance in its four classes. A nursery is also provided. Evening services which include local testimonies of healing and gratitude are held each third Wednesday of the month at 8 p.m. An in­ vitation is extended to everyone to visit these services. Congregational Church Formed In Year 184 9 The body of Congregational Christians was organized in 1849 through the united efforts of Wm. Mead, John Rockwood and a Mr. Lester, who at that time comprised the most of this settlement. For a time they held meetings in school houses but at length joined with the Methodists and built the Methodist Episcopal cjiurch. The two societies could not agree and the result was that most of they Congregational society returned to their former Nativity Lutheran Formed With 152 Charter Members NATIVITY LUTHERAN CHURfcH 3506 E. Wonder Lake Road Wonder Lake On July 7, 1952, a small group of Wonder Lake residents gathered to form a Temporary Founding committee for the formation of a Lutheran church in Wonder Lake. This group included two pastors who were instrumental in assisting in the organization work, the late Dr. Roger Kaufman and Rev. Robert Hooker, both of Grace Evangelical Lutheran church in Woodstock. A mass meeting was held Aug. 30, 1942, at the Harrison school in which a total of sixty- five persons signed the charter of Organization of Nativity Evangelical Lutheran chur­ ch,Wonder Lake. On Dec. 7, 1952, Nativity Evangelical Lutheran church officially came into being through the help of the Board of American Missions of the United Lutheran Church. The charter roll showed a grand total of 152 members. In early 1952, Nativity pur­ chased a house which became a house chapel and on Feb. 25, 1953, Nativity called as their first pastor, Burton Schroeder, a son of Grace church in Woodstock. Pastor Schroeder assumed full time duties upon his graduation and ordination in May, 1953. Under Pastor Schroeder, the church progressed and grew to the point of taxing the limited facilities of the small house chapel. The congregation then decided to engage in a new church building program and purchase the present site. On Aug. 30, 1959, ground breaking ceremonies for the new church were held. On July 17, 1960, the congregation of Nativity ex- practice of holding services in the school house. In 1861 they built a house of worship at a cost of $2,800 to which they afterward added a bell which cost $500. This church was built by Wm. Mead, and Chauncey Beckwith, who bore „ all the expense them­ selves. Until 1874 services were regularly held but after that time they seldom met as a band of worshipers; most of the original members died and some moved away. The church later stood idle as a monument to the past religious habits of this community. (Continued from page 7) traversed by Rev. Wheeler extended from Milwaukee on the north to Joliet on the south, east to Lake Michigan and west to Dubuque, Iowa. There were no school houses or churches, no highways had been laid out and no bridges built. The Rev. Wheeler took up land and worked on the farm, preaching at three or four places on Sunday, the pioneers coming to the meeting from far and wide in their ox carts. He had been known to preach at Algonquin in the morning, Dundee in the afternoon and at some log dwelling in the evening, driving home many miles late at night. His son, Eugene, began to drive for his father at the age of five years, allowing the elder to study his sermons along the way. Elder Wheeler blazed the way for a wagon road from Lily Lake to Wauconda, which af­ terward became an established highway. Thfe trail from Chicago to McHenry, covering a distance of thirty-four miles, was the first thoroughfare and was maintained for many years. The Rev. Wheeler endured many hardships in his long journeys. In November, 1837, he organized a Baptist church at Lake Zurich, and in March 1838, others at Salem and Kenosha, Wis., successively adding eight other churches in the field. It was not until the winter of 1840-41 that a clergymart flf any other denomination entered the field in which Elder Wheeler had been laboring for three perienced the culmination of their efforts. The "Day of Joyful Entry" arrived with Pastor Schroeder and the entire congregation marching down Wonder Lake road from the house chapel to the new church building. With his work completed as a mission pastor at Nativity, Pastor Schroeder accepted a new challenge with a mission congregation on the West Coast. During the next ten years Nativity was served by three pastors, the Rev. Warren Thummell, the Rev. Thomas Johnson and the Rev. David Allin. On June 8, 1970, a disaster struck Nativity. The church became engulfed in a great fire which destroyed completely the pastor's office and nursery and severely damaged the rest of the church building. Because of this terrible disaster, the congregation of Nativity became strongly reunited in their efforts to rebuild the church. Services were held in the church basement, for many months while the church proper was being rebuilt. The general contract together with con­ siderable volunteer help from the congregation, rebuilt the building to its present con­ dition. The first service in the rebuilt church was held in December, 1970, with the Rev. D. V. Charlson participating. Pastor Charlson will always be remembered as the interim pastor who served the congregation so well during the church rebuilding period. On July 1, 1971, Nativity church called the Rev. Roger H. Olson of Centralia, 111. as its Bible Church Recalls Early, Humble Start The humble beginning of the gospel ministry in the Wonder Lake Bible church dates back to the early spring of 1945, when Mr. and Mrs. Morris T. Ness opened their home in Wonder Lake as a meeting place for an afternoon Sunday School for children in the area. Mr.and pastor. Under Pastor Olson, Nativity is now on the threshold of a new era. Mrs. Franklin W. Anderson, Jr., Mr. S. J. Swenson and Miss Margaret Kott were faithful servants to conduct the early history of the church Sunday School. The first session was held April 22, 1945, and six children were present. The ministry grew and developed into a graded Sunday School, and in January of 1947, the Rev. Franklin W. An­ derson was called to pastor the enlarged work. Before coming to Wonder Lake, Pastor An­ derson had retired from forty years of pastoral ministry in Chicago. Due to poor health it was necessary for him to resign in the spring of 1955. July 1, 1955, the church ex­ tended a call to the Rev. R.N. Wright who has remained as pastor to this presen# time. Pastor Wright has been able to carry on the ministry, and the church has progressed steadily since his call. The church adopted its constitution and charter in 1956 and twenty-five names were fixed to the scroll as charter members. In 1960 the church underwent ex­ tensive remodeling, and a parsonage was purchased; as prior to this time the building was used as the pastor's home and church building. In evidence of the Holy (Continued on Dage 9) The Rev. Wheeler built the first house .in what is now McHenry immediately after his arrival here. The main room was reserved for church and school purposes. In 1838 he opened what was called a boarding school, this being the first school of its kind in the county. It drew pupils from a wide territory. A number of the early physicians in northern Illinois received their training in this institution. Some of the most prominent people of the county were among his pupils. In 1841 he removed to Warrenville, Dupage county, where he had several students fitting for the ministry. Here a school and church building was erected and was conducted under the name of the Warrenville Institute, the only school in the northwest where the classics were taught. The fiftieth anniversary of his ordination and the forty- seventh of his ministry in -McHenry county was celebrated in McHenry, Aug. 17, 1884. Jonathan Imeson and Mary Wray, the first white couple to be married in the county, were married by the Rev. Wheeler. For years he worked without salary until in the late '70's he was allowed the munificent salary of $300 per year. The family was of sturdy Welsh stock extraction, Jonathan Wheeler, great­ grandfather of Rev. Joel Wheeler, having emigrated to America about the middle of the seventeenth century, set­ tling at Salem. Mass. lUc Rewl £ue*ylJtwg! DO IT YOURSELF ED'S RENTAL n 385-3232 904 FRONT ST., - MCHENRY ALL BY THE HOUR--DAY-- WEEK! NOW IS THE TIME TO SHAPE UP YOUR HOME, LAWN & GARDEN WHY BUY? RENT IT! HEADQUARTERS TOOLS and EQUIPMENT AUTOMOTIVE Acetylene Torch Body Sanders Bolt Cutters Chain Hoists Compression Tester tngine Hoists Impact Wrenches Polishers Torque Wrenches Tow Bars Transmission Jacks Wheel Pullers PLUMBING Augers, Drain & Toilet Blow Torches Basin Wrenches Lead Pot Pipe Benders Pipe Cutters Pipe Reamers Pipe Dies Pipe Vice Sewer Cleaners, Elec. Sewer Tapesr& Snakes Tube Cutters & Flanger CONTRACTOR'S EQUIPMENT Airless Spray Outfits Air Compressors Bull, Floats Backhoe Cement Mixers Cement Tools Concrete Saws Elec. 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