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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 1915)
Concerning the Churches and the Pastors of Loup City Six Religious Denominations Re presented in Loup City FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.! The First Presbyterian Church of Loup City is now a modern church building, with all the modern con veniences found in the church build ings of today, and under the pastor ate of Rev. E. M. Steen is making rapid additions to the membership, about 140 now being on the church roll. Concerning the history and organi zation of the church, we quote from the paper read by Mr. Ward VerValin before the annual banquet as follows: “At the request of Rev. N. C. John son, pastor at large of Kearney Pres bytery, several Christians of Loup City and vicinity, met at the German Lutheran church November 20,1905, to discuss and advise about organi zing a Presbyterian church at Loup City. "Rev. George A. Ray was present at this meeting and explained what was required of communicants that united with this denomination. It was decided by those present to or ganize. A petition was prepared by Rev. Ray, to be presented to Kearney presbytery, asking that this church. “The First Presbyterian church of Loup City.” be enrolled and admitted to its membership. “At an adjourned meeting on No vember 28, 1905, it was found that twenty-four persons had signed this petition as charter members, all but three presenting letters from other churches. Of these twenty-four charter members, ten are now resi-j dent members of this congregation. “The names of the charter mem bers as they appeared on the petition, are as follows; Ward VerValin, Mrs. Ward VerValin, Mrs. J. F. Nicoson. Edna Minshull, C. H. Leininger, Mrs. C. H. Leininger, E. G. Taylor, Mrs. E. G. Taylor, Mrs. W. A. Hayes, Sadie Swanson, E. E. Tracy, Mrs. E. E. Tracy, Maud Reynolds,, Mrs. A. P. C’ully, Lizzie Leininger, Mrs. H. Lein inger, Mrs. T. A. Taylor, Henry B. Musser, Harry B. Musser, Esther Musser, Mrs. W. F. Mason, Mrs. T. M. Reed, Mrs. C. C. Cooper and Mrs. Harry B. Musser. “After being questioned by Rev. Ray, these twenty-four became the first members of this church and pro ceeded to elect three elders and five trustees. “The first session consisted of E. G. Taylor, C. H. Leininger and Ward VerValin. These three were ordained at this meeting. “The first trustees were H. B. Musser, G. S. Leininger, Mrs. A. P. Cully, E. E. Tracy and W. A. Hayes. “At the annual meeting in March, 1908, the number of elders was in creased to five, and the next year this was increased to six. the present number. The board of trustees was increased to six in 1909 and at an ad journed meeting the same year this board was increased to nine. “In February 1906, Rev. L. C. Me Ewen was extended a call to be the first pastor. In December, 1908, pres bytery dissolved the pastoral rela tions between Rev. McEwen and this church. “Rev. D. W. Montgomery served as pastor from January, 1909, to April, 1911. “Rev. J. C. Tourtellot was called as Pastor in April, 1911, and continued as pastor until February 1914. “All three of these pastors were called from Iowa to this state. “Rev. E. M. Steen, our present Pas tor, was extended a call in March, 1914. “Our first Sunday school met in the German church and was duly or ganized the first Sunday in January 1906 and Ward VerValin was elected superintendent. I was not able to find a record of the attendance on the day of organizing, but the attendance Sunday before last was over 160 and the collection was $6.36. “During the summer and fall of 1906, this building and the manse to the east were erected, the church be ing dedicated October 21, 1906. by Dr. Thomas L. Sexton, synodical mis sionary of Nebraska. During this summer and fall of 1915 this building has been raised, new equipment added and a general overhauling and remodeling done at a cost of nearly $4,000.” Industrial Society. The Industrial society was organ ized in the summer of 1906, with a membership of fifteen. The member ship is now sixty-two. At the last meeting, there was an attendance of members and visitors, of seventy four. Mrs. E. G. Taylor was the first president and Mrs. Thompson is the present president. The Missionary society has been an organization since 1906 and holds regular monthly meetings. Christian Endeavor Society. The first president of the C. E. so- ] cietv was Edna fylinshull, and the first meeting was in April. 1906. Our pres ent secretary is president of District I No. 8, of the state C. E. society. Our society has been represented at three world conventions by four of our members: one member going to St. Paul, Minnesota, two members to Los Angeles and one member to Chicago. At the annual meeting in March. 1908, Raymond Kearns reported an organization consisting of twenty-two members as Knights of King Arthur. He also reported, at this meeting, a strong brotherhood. Two of the young men from our | membership have entered the minis try. Raymond V. Kearns is now the successful pastor at Oswego, Illinois. REV. L. V. SLOCUMB REV. J. L. DUNN REV. E. M. STEEN Archie Kearns lias been supplying a church in Indiana the past summer, and is now in McCormick Seminary, Chicago. Miss Elizabeth Leininger, this fall, entered the Presbyterian training school, at Chicago. Time, or rather the want of time, prevents us from making mention of the Junior C. E„ the work of the choir, the cradle roll babies, the special meetings, and dozens of other things that are very interesting con cerning this organization. Some things we may well be proud of. Some that we should be ashamed of for not having done better. Commencing with a membership of twenty-four, ten years ago this month, there has been 22G names entered on the church roll, but death and removal has reduced this numebr to 130 resident members. With our increased membership and improved equipment, we have in creased our responsibilities. It is up to us. What are we going to do about it?—Rev. E. M. Steen. BAPTIST CHURCH. For a number of years prior to the first organization there had been a number of Baptists living in and near Loup City, but as they were consider ably scattered it was not thought ad visable to form a society until the fall of 1879. Others came, and Rev. A. Weaver, from Vinton. Iowa settled at Ord, Valley county and organized a church there, so the Baptist peo ple here decided that if they could se cure his services for a part of the time they would organize. They were successful in securing his services, so in March, 18S0. a meeting of the Bap tists was called, which met in the court house in Loup City, and after a thorough canvas of the matter it was unanimously decided to organize a Baptist church. Rev. Weaver to preach here once in four weeks. Walter Moon and Albert Sloan were elected clerks. Rev. Weaver continued as pastor for two years, after which time Rev. B. P. Russell became the pastor, re maining nearly two years, after which there wras no regular preaching un til the winter of 1SS6-7, when Rev. J. D. Stapp came to us, and it was de termined to make a new effort to try to build up the church. Services were held in the opera house, which was built on the north side of the pubilc square at about this time. The church building which wre still occupy was built in 1888, and Rev. Stapp remained with us until Oc tober, 1888. He was a dear old man, full of en thusiasm and zeal for the cause he loved and served and was loved by all who knew him. Rev. B. P. Russell again became our pastor, and remained with us for nearly a year. Bro. H. S. Cooper became the pas tor November 1, 1S89, and was or dained here the following May. In October 1S90, he tendered his REV. FATHER JARKA REV. TEODORE YOUNG REV. F. W. GUTH Many Improvements to Church Property in the Year 1915 resignation, as he wished to return to school, whis was regretfully accepted as he had so endeared himself to the people that it was very hard to part with him. That year being the year of drouth all crops being a complete failure, we only had preaching once in two weeks. In November 1891, Rev. E. G. Boyer became our pastor and was soon after ordained. He remained with us two years. Rev. Miller came to us soon, and remained until in May, 1896. He also was ordained here. Then Mr. Shattuek, a student, preached for us during the summer, and once in two weeks during the fol lowing winter. In November, 1900, Rev. Hill, a stu dent, became pastor, coming up each week, from the Grand Island college to preach for us. It must be remem bered that these ten years, from 1890 to 1900 were ten years of drouth, when there was scarcely anything raised in this section of the country and there was almost no money in the country, and it was a severe struggle to keep up church services at all. We were obliged to get along with non-resident pastors, students from the college, until July, 1903. Dur ing the most of that time, from 1901 to 1903, we had with us Brother L. D. Wey and, a very talented young man, who has since become one of the best ministers of the denomination. Then Kev. Kennedy and wife came to us and remained one year, when, in October, 1904, Rev. H. S. Wold be came our pastor and remained with us till December 30, 1906, when he ac cepted the call to become district missionary in South Dakota. At first it semed that we could not part with Brother Wold, but we felt as did he, that the Father’s hand would lead aright, and that we must not thwart His plans, so we sorrow fully accepted his resignation. During his pastorate the church membership had increased largely, and we built the parsonage. Rev. Guernsey was our next pastor, coming to us in January, 1907. and re maining until September of the same year. We had preaching service near ly every Sunday, a student coming from the college, or some minister from Grand Island, but no resident pastor until in March, 1908, when we extended a call to D. W. James to be come our pastor which he accepted, his father coming at once and filling the pulpit until the close of the school year. During the summer the church did considerable repairing of the build ing, reshingled the church, put in new ceiling, furnace, new pews, painted inside and out, repapered in terior, purchased new organ, pulpit and choir chairs, and the church membership increased rapidly. February, 1909, the pastor was tal very ill, and, although we retai him as our pastor until January. 1 he was never again able to fill pulpit, his father filling it for 1 He was a grand old man, dearly 1<. by all, and it was with regret that ! bid him goodbye, in May. 1910. At • we were pastorless until July, 1 ! although we had services the most 1 the time, Dr. Sutherland, Rev. C 1 and Prof. Shouse coming up f: Grand Island to preach. Then Rev. M. C. Powers beean t our pastor, and he and his dear u labored with us until May 15. 1 A call was extended to Dr. Sut land, July 11, 1912, which he cepted, and he preached for us u the first of May, 1914, coming up f Grand Island each week to fill tile . Pit. I I ! I Dr. Sutherland was very fan; and worked hard to help us t. come able to secure a resident pa and in April, 1914, he accompli his mission, when he helped church to see their opportunitv they accepted his resignation and tended a call to Rev. J. I,. Dunn Liberty, to become the resident j tor. Rev. and Mrs. Dunn cane to u the first of May, 1914, and ar- - with us and we earnestly hop' t will be for many years to come i Sunday school has nearly doub and. where we had no young pc meeting for several years, we i have a fine society with many m bers. Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Bukoutz u with us for four weeks, in sp meetings in February, 1914. and at for two and one-half weeks re. • They were a great help and ins] tion to us, as were also Rev. and M Martin a year ago. We feel that our field of useful!: is opening up wonderfully, and we planning for and expecting gi things for the future. The Sunday school has grown we are so crowded we feel we m put a basement under the chu just as soon as possible in the spr The church is absolutely out of d. Electric lights have been installed the parsonage, and funds raised paint same on outside, and recarp, the church and other improvement Our aim and prayer is that each mi ber of the Baptist church of Lmr> City may so live that they will in i way bring reproach upon the cau of Christ, but that each one may !•■■ a living monument to the goodness of God, known and read of all men. to His glory; and that they stand firm for everything that tends to ward the uplift of humanity and the establishing of peace and righteou ness among our fellow men. 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