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HOME
HISTORY
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written by
Tana Tesdall
The
church was built for those who wanted to strengthen their Christianity through
worship, ministries, listening and discussions. In 1866 some members of the
Bloomington Circuit, northeast of Ames, founded the First Methodist Church of
Ames. The first church was built on the northeast corner of Main and Kellogg at
a cost of $800. In appearance it resembled the old country one-room school.
As for the church's three-lot present location, it was purchased in 1894 at a
cost of $650. Then a brick church was built on this site in 1888 at a cost of
$11,000. The first pastor to preach in the new church was Rev. A.M. Shea in
1903. He was eloquent, had a pleasant personality and was an energetic spiritual
leader.
Through promotional work and "revival meetings" the church was soon too small
for the congregation. So in 1907, the 1888 brick church was torn down. Sunday services were then
held in a concrete building on 5th Street, and later in a roller skating
rink just to the west of Ames.
The old church's bricks were cleaned of mortar at a cost of 2 cents each and
used in the present church's foundation. Ten stain glass
memorial windows were saved and placed in the present Fireside Parlor and in other
parts of the church. The Crambitt Bell, which was also in the former
church, was in storage for years until it was placed in the north wall of the
new education building in 1958.
Later on a financial promoter was hired to help raise $53,409 in cash and pledges
for the church. That
sum today does not sound like very much, but considering the level of the
economy in those years, $53,409 was a tremendous amount of money. Consider the
following prices for commodities in those days (taken from the Ames
Intelligencer):
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Ladies shoes $2.50-$3
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Silk - .90 - $1 per year
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Men's suites - $11.50 -
$12
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Sweet corn (3 cans) - $0.25
The night of the
church's dedication, $3,000 was still lacking so the Ladies Aid
Society assumed that amount in addition to their earlier pledge. In all,
the ladies paid $17,100, almost a third of the total $53,409. They did it with bazaars,
chicken pie suppers and ice cream socials. During World War I they served 7,999
meals to soldiers passing through Ames on troop trains.
With regard to the original church plan, it did not call for a dome. However,
the church members thought this would be a nice touch and it would protect the
stain glass windows. The contractor, Mr. Gier, agreed to build it for $1,000. Rev. Shea raised that amount from a source
he would never disclose, not even 50 years later.
The new church's woodwork was varnished oak and the large arch
toward the back of the sanctuary held a large curtain which was raised or
lowered by a hand-operated crank in the attic.
A contribution by the C.W. McCasky family of $1,000 paid for the Good Shepherd stained glass
window. The Cox family donated the west window, depicting
the resurrection.
The first pipe organ was purchased in 1910 at a cost of $10,000. The first
organist was Mrs. Adolph Shane. Over the years the choirs were men's quartets, men's chorus and mixed choirs
- all volunteers. For five years in
the early 1920s a paid mixed quartet sang at the two Sunday services and, at times,
they gave Sunday night concerts of sacred music. The pay was $2 each.
For several years a pastor was associated with the church for the sole purpose
to work with Iowa State University and other college students. On Sept. 24,
1916, a charter was issued to Collegiate Methodist Church, so from then on they
focused on working with the college students. As for the educational wing
connected to the church, it was added in 1958.
Other United
Methodist History Web Sites
http://gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/Wesley/
http://www.umc.org/abouttheumc/history/
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