A History of Box Elder County

Non-LDS churches in Boc Elder County

CHAPTER 9 NON-LDS CHURCHES IN Box ELDER COUNTY C'o mpletion of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit in May 1869 also signaled the arrival of a permanent non- LDS presence in Box Elder County, with Corinne as its early focal point.1 It is that small rural community, once a railroad boomtown, which boasts the oldest Protestant church building now standing in Utah now "converted" to the Corinne Historical Society Museum in 1995 through an agreement between the local organization and the Methodist church. Many hopeful entrepreneurs predicted that Corinne would grow to be a large city, one with a university, many churches, and possibly becoming Utah's capitol city. In 1869 a thousand eager souls had moved into Corinne, and they were mostly unchurched, a fact which brought representatives of several major religions to the area. They were not welcomed by all. Reverend George Foote, rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City, preached one of the first sermons on 6 June 1869 to six persons in the city hall. The ser­vice was so disturbed by the boisterous element of the town outside NON-LDS CHURCHES IN BOX ELDER COUNTY 167 its doors that it was many months before Foote would consent to come back.2 Presbyterian Churches Presbyterians were among the first to arrive. On 11 June 1869, a month and a day after completion of the transcontinental railroad, Reverend Malanchton Hughes stepped off the Union Pacific train in Corinne. Despite poor health, he had accepted a three-month call in answer to the request of the Reverend Sheldon Jackson, newly appointed missionary for the opening west.3 Hughes held the first Presbyterian service in Utah in the Corinne City Hall on the first Sunday following his arrival, 13 June 1869. Sheldon Jackson paid his first visit in August and conducted a service in which trustees were elected. Hughes was replaced by the Reverend Edward E. Bayliss in April 1870, and in a few weeks a manse (pastor's residence) had been built and a building leased for services. On 10 July the church was officially organized with ten members and one elder. Plans were made immediately for the building of a church, and $1,543 were raised for the purpose. Another $4,000 were secured from church boards and individual churches, and the church was built. It was dedicated on 20 November 1870 with Reverend Jackson among those in attendance.4 Meanwhile a Methodist church had been built and a school opened, and Mr. Bayliss saw the need for a school of higher grades and left in 1891 to secure funds in the East for that purpose. Falling in that, he decided not to return and resigned. Following his depar­ture, the church was vacant except for a short time in 1972 until the arrival of its next pastor. In 1874 Reverend Samuel L. Gillespie, who also served the church at Evanston, Wyoming, arrived in Corinne. He had been a missionary in Africa and was described by a colleague as a man "cho­sen of God for the work in Utah." Under his leadership, church mem­bership grew to twenty-one and the Sunday school had seventy-five enrolled. The town, however, was rapidly declining due to Mormon opposition, the development of Ogden as a rail center, and building of a rail line to the north which by-passed Corinne.5 168 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY A larger town, Brigham City, was chosen as a more profitable location for his ministry. This was a wise move on Gillespie's part, although it was not readily accepted by the community, but it laid the cornerstone for the only Protestant church which has remained a continuous presence in Box Elder County from that period. Gillespie had delivered the first Protestant sermon in Brigham City on 3 April 1876 from the steps of the county courthouse, which also served as an LDS meeting place. He was asked by a deputy sher­iff by what authority he was there, and he is said to have answered: "by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, and exercising the rights of an American Citizen." Although he met with considerable opposition, this Civil War veteran and former missionary to Africa was finally able to purchase lots at 71 and 77 North Main for the sum of $750 in 1878. He began holding services in the adobe home located on the property in February 1878, and moved his family there in June of the same year.6 The small frame church in Corinne, which boasted a fine bell in its tower, was damaged in a severe wind storm in March 1894. A small congregation was served by visiting ministers, including Gillespie, in Corinne until it was closed in 1915.7 The church bell cur­rently occupies a place of honor on a pedestal in the park next to the Corinne City Hall. Construction on the Brigham City church building began the summer of 1878, with Watkins and Carson contracted as builders. It was not an easy year. Stones were thrown on the manse, doors kicked in, and family provisions had to be freighted from Corinne since the local Mormon cooperative had been cautioned not to trade with the family.8 However, a little community of followers did grow and help sup­port one another. There were twenty-seven students in Sunday school, twenty-nine in the young people's group, ten members of a ladies missionary society, in addition to the Sunday worship services. Reverend Gillespie opened a free school in September 1878, bringing educated young women (including his sister) as teachers. An early church report lists eighteen teachers as having served the school.9 Although services were carried on from 1878 to 1890, it was not until that year that the Brigham City Church was formally organized. NON-LDS CHURCHES IN BOX ELDER COUNTY 169 By that time the Gillespies were well accepted in the community. The church building was sometimes used for public meetings and func­tions by the community, as indicated in various notices in the town's newspapers of the period. When Samuel Gillespie left Brigham City in 1895, he and his wife Mattie had become respected members of the community. He was replaced by another Civil War veteran, Reverend Arthur Rankin, who had operated a station on the "underground railroad" which helped slaves escape. During Rankin's ministry, 1896-1907, the name of the church was changed from Box Elder to Brigham Mission.10 Newspaper reports indicate that Reverend Rankin was well-liked in the community, and served as a member of the city's military band. The Box Elder News of 8 August 1907 reports that the church was being repaired, walls and ceilings were being retinted in attrac­tive colors, a new floor laid, woodwork and furniture stained.11 A succession of pastors has served the church through the years, with a constant and faithful congregation keeping the little mission church alive and vital. A new manse was built next to the church in the fall of 1914 at a cost of $3,000. Memorial stained glass windows were installed at the front of the church at approximately the same time. Often the only Protestant church in the city, the body is still known as Community Presbyterian Church and serves people of many denominational backgrounds. It grew as Brigham City brought in different elements of population with Bushnell Hospital, Intermountain Indian School, Thiokol, and other businesses. During the Intermountain Indian School period, the congrega­tion had outgrown the little 1878 church on North Main, and in 1954 purchased the old LDS First-Sixth Ward building on the corner of Second East and Third South and the Old Rock School around the corner. The two stained glass windows, placed in the old church in 1914 in memory of Reverend Gillespie and Reverend Rankin, were placed in the rear of the "new" church as a link to the past. The manse was moved to the lot directly south of the church.12 The northwest corner of the large lot at 100 East and 300 South was purchased by Amity Lodge 23, Free and Accepted Masons, who acquired the old frame chapel and moved it onto the lot. It has since 170 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY been covered with brick and still serves as headquarters for Amity Lodge. Again in the 1960s the church was bursting at the seams with Thiokol employees and their families, and a new educational build­ing was dedicated on 29 April 1964, named Gillespie Hall in honor of the church's pioneer founder. It has provided quarters for Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, a migrant day care center, soup kitchen, and preschool in fulfilling some of the church's motto: "At the heart of the community, with the community at head." Corinne Methodist Church Corinne Methodist church is not only the first Methodist church but the first Protestant church to be dedicated in Utah. The first Methodist preaching in Corinne was on 25 June 1870 by Reverend G. M. Pierce. During the next few months Methodist worship services were held at various places until a church could be built. On the morning of 17 July, Bishop E. R. Ames preached in the Opera House and that evening Chaplain C.C. McCabe preached.13 After the evening service a subscription list for a church was started and $1,100 were subscribed and on the following day another $400 were obtained. Events continued to move rapidly, and the church was dedicated on 20 September 1870-the first regular Methodist church dedicated in Utah. The building cost more than $4,000, of which some was paid by the Church Extension Society.14 Records of the church from 1870 to 1892 are sketchy, but there is evidence of the church's decline in the fact that ministers were also assigned to such places as Ogden and Tooele.15 Minutes of the Utah Annual Conference of 1879 mentioned the possibility of selling church property. The church had suffered twelve years of decline when Pastor G.O. Streets arrived in 1888 and raised $350 to put the church in good repair, organized a Sunday school of sixty-five members and preached to a larger congregation every Sunday. Through the years repairs and additions were made to the church: cement coping, a frame vestibule, electric lights, new win­dows, etc. It continued to served the congregation until 1957, when it was decided to discontinue regular services. Ministers from NON-LDS CHURCHES IN Box ELDER COUNTY 171 Tremonton and later from Brigham City visited the few members still living in Corinne. The Corinne Methodist church was used sporadically for special events, such as Christmas Eve services, and Methodists from throughout Utah gathered there in 1970 for a centennial celebration of their presence in Utah. In 1994-95 the Corinne Historical Society and Methodist Church in Utah entered into an agreement and the building houses a "living" museum. The chapel area has been restored and is used for community events, weddings, and other functions, and a small museum of Corinne and church memorabilia is located in the rear of the chapel. Scandinavian Methodist Church An interesting aspect of Methodism was found in Brigham City briefly. The LDS church had many Scandinavian Methodist converts, but it was reported that about one-third left the LDS church after arriving in Utah. Methodists saw this as an opportunity to evangelize and Americanize these people. About 1885 the Scandinavian Methodist Church of Brigham City was founded. At first it was asso­ciated with the Logan-Hyrum circuit, later with North Ogden, Corinne (1897), and Tremonton (1909).16 A debt-free parsonage and church located on the 100 South block of 100 East was reported in 1903, with good attendance at ser­vices and Sunday school. During the next years, however, a rapid decline set in. The Box Elder News reported on 9 January 1908, "There will be services at the Methodist church on Sunday Jan 12, at 8 P.M. in the Danish language, conducted by the Rev. H.I. Hansen of Salt Lake City. The pastor, C. J. Mekkelsen, will also speak at the same hour, in English."17 In 1909 only one member was reported-still under the pas­torate of Mekkelson's Corinne-Tremonton circuit. In 1918 the build­ings were sold.18 The church was converted to a home, which still has a dated cornerstone at its southwest corner. It and the former manse can be distinguished by a shared driveway. 172 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY Tremonton Methodist Church In 1897 the Reverend Eugene H. Snow of the Corinne Methodist church visited families of new settlers arriving in Bear River Valley from the Midwest, some of whom lived in Corinne until they could build houses on their newly acquired farms. His successor, Reverend A. W. Hartshorn, held meetings in a little frame schoolhouse the set­tlers had built on the road called the "Iowa String" which ran north from Corinne. Following pastors also served in this manner. Settlers in the area founded the town of Tremont in the spring of 1903, naming it for the town in Illinois from which several had come. The name was later changed to Tremonton. Before no more than three buildings had been erected in the new town; the Methodists had bought two lots. For two years the congregation met in the Wilson Lumber Company and Odd Fellows Lodge. In 1905 an aban­doned church building from Cache Valley was made available, care­fully taken apart, and rebuilt on a corner lot. It was dedicated in December 1906 by Bishop David M. Moore. A parsonage was built in 1914-15, and the church building was raised on a basement built under it in 1938. The church remained active for many years, serving several generations of Methodists. With its membership dwindling, the Tremonton Methodist church finally closed its doors in the late 1980s. Since that time the building has housed Catholic services, until a Catholic church was built in Tremonton, and in 1998 was being rented by a Baptist con­gregation. Aldersgate United Methodist Church In 1998 Brigham City is home to the only Methodist congrega­tion in Box Elder County. It had its beginning on 17 March 1963 when a group of twenty interested persons met with the Superintendent of the Utah-Western District and the Reverend Gerald F. Makepeace, pastor, Community Methodist Church, Tremonton. The meeting was held in the basement of the Masonic Lodge-the old Presbyterian church building. Thiokol brought a number of Methodists to the community, and they were interested in forming a congregation of their own. A sur­vey conducted in 1963 showed a potential membership of 106. NON-LDS CHURCHES IN BOX ELDER COUNTY 173 Meanwhile Sunday evening services were being conducted by Reverend Makepeace. On Easter Sunday 1963, fifty-four persons attended a service in the park bowery, and on 5 May regular Sunday services were begun at Lincoln Elementary School. By 14 May 1963 a charter was presented to Aldersgate Methodist church with thirty-eight charter members present. A house at 482 Camaren Drive was purchased, the basement finished as a sanctuary, and upstairs rooms for Sunday school, pastor's study, and nursery. Consecration services occurred on 29 March 1964. The old pump organ, the pulpit, and communion set from the Corinne church were used for some time by the Aldersgate church. Later the home became the parsonage and Methodists arranged to meet in St. Michael's Episcopal Church. In the late 1980s Aldersgate United Methodist Church purchased the old Bushnell Hospital-Intermountain School chapel which had been converted to classrooms, and remodeled it to its original use as a house of worship. A later addition was completed which includes a kitchen and dining area, Sunday school rooms, nursery, and pastor's office. Episcopal Churches Although the Episcopal church's first attempt in Corinne did not go well, it did not take long for the church to establish a presence in 1870. The Reverend Foote did return, purchased a lot, and raised about $1,000 which was supplemented by a gift of $1,500, and was building a modest church building when the community was visited by Episcopal Bishop Daniel S. Tuttle in 1870. Bishop Daniel S. Tuttle, in reminiscences of 1869-70 wrote: "We built a church of adobe, mainly from a gift of fifteen hundred dollars sent by Mrs. Mintum of New York in memory of her late husband. By her request it was called 'The Church of the Good Samaritan.'" The church declined as did the city: "Yet the event followed not the line of our forecast. Corinne now has two hundred and fifty inhabitants, and Salt Lake City fifty thousand . . . ," said Tuttle in 1886. As membership waned, the church was closed and the closest congregations were in Ogden and Logan. 174 HISTORY OF Box ELDER COUNTY St. Michael's Episcopal Church In 1857 Brigham City boasted a population of about 6,000 peo­ple. The Rt. Reverend Richard S. Watson, Episcopal Bishop of Utah, recognized a lack of missionary work in northern Utah and especially at Intermountain Indian School. He directed the Reverend William J. Hannifin, vicar of St. John's in Logan, to assess the spiritual needs of students and staff. Father Hannifin found that approximately 250 Intermountain Indian School students had been raised in the Anglican faith on the reservation, and that year conducted the first celebration of the Holy Eucharist for these students. It was also in 1957 that Thiokol came to Brigham City, and a surge of non- Mormon people was expected. St. Michael's Episcopal Church was established on 17 October 1957 when members of several newly arrived Thiokol families and other Brigham City residents met with Father Hannifin to define the new mission in the Utah Diocese. The first order of business was to find a place of worship. Community Presbyterian Church offered the use of that congregation's building. In April 1959 Sunday Eucharist services were moved to the Protestant Student Center at 435 East 700 South, which was located close enough to the Intermountain Indian School to be convenient for Indian students. Father Hannifin was commuting from St. John's providing ser­vices for Brigham City and Intermountain School religious classes. In order to facilitate his move to Brigham City, a suitable vicarage was needed. A lot was purchased north of the corner of 600 South and First East in 1959, at which time Mr. and Mrs. John Higginson bought and donated adjacent lots to extend the church's holdings to the corner. A drive to build the church got underway with dinner and festiv­ities celebrating the burning of the vicarage mortgage on 12 April 1962. The building was completed for a total cost of approximately $59,000 and was dedicated by Bishop Watson on 17 November 1963. Almost every member of the small church was involved in the con­struction or the interior furnishings. After ten years of scrimping, St. Michael's paid off its loan. With all of the debts taken care of, St. Michael's Church was consecrated on 18 November 1973. NON-LDS CHURCHES IN BOX ELDER COUNTY 175 Buddhist Churches Box Elder County has a longtime Buddhist presence, established by a population of Japanese workers who came from Japan early in the twentieth century, as well as from the West Coast, for employ­ment in the mines, farms, and railroads. The Issie Buddhist pioneers who settled in the northern Uta area, though small in number, retained their religious heritage with much devotion. The first Buddhist group began meeting in Honeyville in 1912. Spiritual leadership was provided by ministers from Ogden and Salt Lake City, commuting for regular services once a month. The present two-story brick church building on about five acres of land was purchased in 1931 from Utah-Idaho Sugar Company for $4,000. It has been used for many purposes by the Japanese commu­nity, including a Japanese language school for youth. During World War II it was partitioned off into apartments to help house evacuees from the West Coast. The Issei women had a very active Fujinkai from 1946-70, when they temporarily disbanded and then reacti­vated in 1971. The members assist in preparing and serving refresh­ments and whatever necessary for church activities. In 1970 the Honeyville Buddhist Church became a branch church of the newly established Buddhist Temple of Utah-Idaho which was formerly known as the Ogden Buddhist Church. The Honeyville church became independent on 1 April 1970. A Sunday school was established in 1953 and a Young Buddhist Association in 1973. For many years the church hosted the popular Buddhist Bazaar as a fundraiser, bringing people from all over northern Utah to enjoy oriental good, games, and prizes. The Corinne Buddhist Church building was constructed in the spring of 1944 under the leadership of Jutaro Taura, Tsunekichi Ishidia, and Takematsue Tawatari, and property donated by Mr. and Mrs. Sataro Shiotani. With Yuki Kondo as supervisor, the Corinne Japanese community pitched in to shovel dirt, haul lumber, pour cement, and carry out other tasks to create this center for religious services and social functions. As with the Honeyville church, a min­ister from Ogden conducted services. In 1954 the church was remodeled and enlarged, and a new 176 HISTORY OF Box ELDER COUNTY Obutsudan was purchased in 1961. The church throughout its his­tory has received support and cooperation from the Young Buddhist Association and the Fujinkai. Today, with only a few Issei members remaining, the Young Buddhist Members have taken over adminis­tration of the church. A minister from Ogden conducts services for the small congregation once a month.19 The Molokan Russian Settlement A unique chapter in Box Elder County's religious history involves a group of Russians, members of the Molokan faith, who settled near Park Valley and tried to create a religious colony from 1914-17. The experiment failed, leaving two graves enclosed in a picket fence as a lasting memorial to their adversity. Molokan history goes back three centuries to Russia when revi­sions in Orthodox church rituals caused dissident groups to break away, including a group of peasants who felt led by the Holy Spirit to a simpler form of worship. With laws forbidding all non-Orthodox religions, Molokans were persecuted through the years. From 1904 to 1912, approximately 3,500 Molokans migrated to America, many of them settling in the Los Angeles area.20 As the modern world began to close in and impose civil law, the Molokans looked for a place where they could create a community of their own. In Utah the Pacific Land and Water Company led by James H. Patterson, C.N. Strevell, F.A. Druehi, Harold A. LaFaunt, W. Mont Ferry, Ed D. Woodruff, and Robert LaFaunt had bought 136,949 acres of railroad land in Park Valley. In 1911 they published a brochure extolling the virtues of this land, featuring photographs of profitable farm and orchard lands.21 Need and opportunism meshed, and the move was on. The group's arrival was announced in the Salt Lake Tribune and reprinted in the 9 April 1914 issue of the Box Elder News: "More than 100 Russians, who for some time past have been members of the Russian colony near Los Angeles, Calif., left the southern California metrop­olis yesterday for Box Elder county, Utah. Another large contingent, it is said, will follow in a few weeks."22 The article noted that the group was traveling on a special train NON-LDS CHURCHES IN Box ELDER COUNTY 177 of four cars-two baggage cars and two passenger coaches. From the railroad stop in Kelton, they traveled by wagon to the dry sagebrush flats along the lower part of Dove Creek. They built wooden plank houses, dug wells and root cellars, and cleared land for their crops. Tragedy struck almost immediately, as group leader Andrew Kalpakoff's wife was killed in a shooting accident as he cleaned his gun. The incident was reported on 7 May 1914 in the Box Elder News. Life went on, as a writer noted in a Box Elder News article of 6 August 1914: "The colony of Russians who recently located out there are building up a commonwealth after the pattern of the [LDS] United Order that was established in the city in the early years. They work together and have everything in common."23 Whether the colony's finances were communal, or the people were simply cooperative in their farming efforts, is not known by descendants. However, some families owned horses and some did not. Local residents who were children in Park Valley at the time recall that the women wore long black dresses and veils or scarves over their heads.24 Twenty family names appear on the county's delinquent tax list of 9 December 1915. These taxes were on improvements or personal property. There is no listing of change of land ownership in the Box Elder County Recorder's office, so either the land was leased or the land company failed to record a sale. By 1918 there was only one Russian name remaining on the tax list. In April 1915 the Box Elder News reported that the Pacific Land and Water Company issued a deed for two acres for a school site. School board minutes of August 1915 indicate projected populations at the Russian colony were twenty boys and twenty girls. By November the superintendent reported the school had hardly enough students to justify its continuance. The next year the few chil­dren were bused to Rosette, for the town was almost empty. Where did they go? Research and family contacts indicate most returned to California, including the Kalpakoff family. Period pho­tographs taken by the Kalpakoff family provide a valuable visual record of clothing and structures, and this family also played a sig­nificant role in keeping the Russian Colony presence known. Anna M. Kalpakoff was originally buried in the Park Valley 178 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY Cemetery. Later, when her sister-in-law Mary M. Kalpakoff died in childbirth in February 1915, she was buried on her husband's land, and it was decided to remove Anna from the Mormon cemetery and bury her beside her relative.25 Paul Kalpakoff, a child of Mary Kalpakoff, decided in 1948 to search for his mother's grave and brought his family with him to Park Valley where area residents helped them find two small wooden markers with Russian inscriptions. In 1966 they returned to place new headstones on the graves. After Paul Kalpakoff's death in 1989, his son returned in 1990 after correspondence with a local writer who was researching the colony. At approximately the same time, other descendants of colonists and a few survivors who were children in 1914-17 also responded to the researcher's letter placed in a Molokan newsletter and shared memories and information to help create a clearer picture of the Russian settlement.26 The colony probably would have been forgotten if it were not for those two grave markers, which stir the curiosity of visitors. They, along with rapidly disappearing pits and a few small wooden struc­tures, a scattering of rusted cans and pieces of broken china, and a crumbling schoolhouse foundation, remain the only visible signs of the courage and this short-lived religious experiment. Apostolic Christian Church As noted, Tremonton was somewhat unusual in Box Elder County in that it was colonized neither by Mormons nor as a railroad town, but was settled by Protestant Midwesterners with early Methodists and Baptists soon joined by a group from the Christian Apostolic Church. Since most of the families were of German her­itage, they were referred to as the German Colony by local residents. Settlers were lured to the area by land agents who promised cheap land with adequate potential for farming. Most of the families arrived in Tremonton between 1901-1904, most of them coming from Tremont, Illinois, and later joined by families from Ohio and Kansas. The early settlers came to improve themselves financially, but found primitive conditions when they arrived in Utah-living in shacks and drinking canal water until springs were found.27 NON-LDS CHURCHES IN BOX ELDER COUNTY 179 A congregation was quickly established with Samuel Imthurn, Henry Baer, and Gideon Winzeler serving as ministers. The congre­gation built a small church on a farm in the Salt Creek area near Tremonton. After a larger church was built on the western edge of Tremonton, the church (which looked like a small schoolhouse) was moved and attached to it for use as a Sunday school. The congrega­tion grew to as many as eighteen families. In 1906-1908 baptisms were held in a ditch near the church. There was a sense of brother­hood as the members got together for Sunday afternoon meals.28 The Philip and Bertha Getz family arrived in 1901 and built a two-story home in time for the birth of their fourth child, Ruth, in 1902. Ruth later recalled, "Our people were known to be industrious and hard working with well-kept homes and outbuildings."29 The families prospered, as noted in the 3 December 1907 edition of the Tremont Times: "To show what can be done in six years in the Bear River Valley, one has only to ride out to the farms of the German settlers west and southwest of Tremonton. Here he can see beautiful homes with fine orchards and gardens and hundreds of acres of oats and wheat and alfalfa where six years ago was a wilderness of sage­brush. . . ."30 A church schism, which manifested itself in churches in the East in 1906-1907, came to divide the unity of the community. The brethren at Tremonton were drawn into the dispute and a new church, under the direction of ministers Gideon Winzeler and Henry Baer, was formed. Because Winzeler had donated the land for the church, the group kept the church building, leaving the four remain­ing families, including Samuel Imthurn, without a place of worship.31 According to Getz, " Henry Baer was our new minister. He also preached in German. Our church sermons were in German, we sang German hymns, and Sunday School was in German. We more or less grew up to think you had to speak German to get into Heaven."32 Following the division, several families returned to the Midwest and the Apostolic Christian Church in Tremonton was all but dis­solved. Over the years the Winzeler-Baer church began to decline and was eventually closed, although some families remained in the area.33 Today the only link to the church's brief past is a cemetery located near Salt Creek, southwest of Tremonton. The names reflect 180 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY the German and Swiss heritage of its members: Funk, Bassner, Eggli, Meister, Getz, Kleinknecht, Woerner, and Baer. The Apostolic Christian Church and the Apostolic Christian Church (Nazarene) collectively provide funds for its upkeep, and during the summer of 1998 sent a mission group from the Midwest to the area to clean the grounds and repair the fence. The Roman Catholic Church The presence of the Roman Catholic church in Box Elder County dates back to the coming of the Transcontinental Railroad.34 General Patrick Connor, one of the founders of Corinne, was an Irish Catholic, and had maintained connections with leaders of his faith from the time he came to Utah with the California Volunteers in 1862. In May 1869 Catholic Bishop The Very Reverend loseph Projectus Machebeuf appointed Father Honore Bourion to oversee Catholic interests in Utah. Father Bourion arrived in Corinne later in the year. He offered the first mass of record in Corinne and in Ogden, but remained only a few weeks. Father Bourion was succeeded by Father John Foley. Though it was expected that Father Foley would make Corinne his headquar­ters, he stayed there only from his arrival in September to December, at which time he moved to Salt Lake City, and ministered to the Catholic population of Corinne from the capital city. In 1871 Utah was removed from the territory of Bishop Machebeuf in Colorado and assigned to Archbishop Alemany of San Francisco. With more resources, Archbishop Alemany sent Father Patrick Walsh to Utah. At the time of dedication of a building for Catholic services in Salt Lake City, Archbishop Alemany, who had come from San Francisco for the event, stopped over in Corinne on Wednesday morning, 29 November 1871. The Archbishop offered mass in the Corinne Opera House, and met with members of the Catholic community in Corinne. The visit apparently made an impression on Archbishop Alemany. After returning to San Francisco, he appointed Father Patrick Dowling to a pastorate in Corinne. The Corinne parish served not only the Corinnethians, but Catholics living along the route of the Transcontinental Railroad NON-LDS CHURCHES IN BOX ELDER COUNTY 181 from Ogden west, including Kelton. Father Dowling arrived in early January 1872. The large Catholic population expected to gather in Corinne did not materialize, and by June 1872 Father Dowling was reassigned to Salt Lake City. It was not until Corinne's agricultural boom in 1892 that Bishop Lawrence Scanlan sent another priest to erect a church in Corinne. That attempt in establishing Catholicism in Corinne also came to naught. From that time, until the establishment of the St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Logan, Box Elder County Catholics were served from St. Joseph's parish in Ogden. With the agricultural growth in Box Elder County subsequent to the coming of the canal system and the sugar company, the Catholic population of the county surged, especially with the arrival of a num­ber of Mexican families in Garland to work in the sugar beet fields. Father Patrick Kennedy and Father Francis J. Sloan traveled from St. Joseph's in Ogden to Corinne to teach catechism in the homes of the Mendez and the Sunder Singh families. After establishment of St. Thomas Aquinas in Logan, pastors traveled to Corinne to offer mass in the city hall and later in the old Methodist church building. With the establishment of Bushnell Hospital, Bishop Duane G. Hunt established St. Henry's Mission in Brigham City in 1943. At the end of the war, there were about sixty Catholics among the 6,000 res­idents of Box Elder's county seat. Traveling priests offered mass in the American Legion hall on east Forest Street. In 1950, as the Bushnell Hospital buildings became the Intermountain Indian School, St. Henry's was raised from a mission to a parish, which was given juris­diction over Box Elder County. A home was purchased and remod­eled into a chapel. In 1952 Jesuit priests took charge of the parish. The priests kept a heavy schedule in the mid-1950s. Sunday masses were offered in the little chapel, at Intermountain Indian School, and at Little Valley, around the end of Promontory Point, where the new earth-fill rail­road causeway was being constructed. Children were bussed to St. Joseph's in Ogden for school, and a house was purchased for a con­vent to house four nuns. The sisters remained in Brigham City until 1983. In 1957 property was purchased for a new church and convent, 182 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY on the corner of Second East and Fourth South. Father Joseph Clark successfully entered a bid on a surplus chapel at the Utah General Depot in Ogden. The building was sawed in half and moved to the site in Brigham City. Plans were made for a school, and property acquired on at Eighth West and Tenth South. Property was purchased for a new convent building and a site was secured for a Catholic Center near the Indian School. A house was purchased near the new Box Elder High School and remodeled into the Sacred Heart Center to be used for a released-time religious education program. With lay­offs at Thiokol, the Catholic population in Brigham City dwindled, and the school, the new convent, and the Catholic Center were not built at that time. In 1976 Father John G. Ferguson came to Brigham City. Mass was then held in Spanish on a regular basis. Under Father Ferguson's direction, the new convent was built, a new rectory and other addi­tions were added to the church, and the Indian Center was erected. Property was acquired in Tremonton for erection of a church there. Through subsequent years, the parish has continued to serve the Roman Catholic community of Brigham City and Box Elder County. Intermountain Indian School Several Protestant denominations had their beginnings in Brigham City as a result of missionary work to Native American stu­dents attending Intermountain Indian School. A cooperative effort among mainline churches shared the already-existing campus chapel at first, but in the early 1950s a building known as the Protestant Student Center was constructed at 435 East 700 South, across the street from the campus. It was financed by the Presbyterian Board of National Missions. Reverend August Jackley was director of activities for the stu­dents, assisted by lay persons and young people in the Brethren Volunteer Service and by Christian Reformed, Baptist, Presbyterian and Episcopal ministers.35 These clergymen, as well as school teachers and employees, formed the nucleus of what have continued to be local religious insti­tutions. Another factor which spurred church growth was the change of government policies concerning students and religion. At first, stu- NON-LDS CHURCHES IN BOX ELDER COUNTY 183 dents were to designate a religious affiliation and expected to attend services. Then it was decided religious institutions were to be off-campus. A glance at the "religious map" of Brigham City shows Christian Reformed, Episcopal, Bible Church, Baptist, LDS Indian Branch, Assembly of God Church, Protestant Student Center and Catholic Student Center are (or were) located within a couple blocks of the campus. Christian Reformed One of the most active denominations in the missionary field was the Christian Reformed Church. When the local church was formed in 1954, over 300 students had indicated a preference for the Christian Reformed Church. Reverend Cornelius Kuipers was called as the first pastor. Services were first held in the basement of the pas­tor's home. In 1960 a church was built at 636 South 300 East, pri­marily serving a Native American student population.36 In 1964 Reverend Al Mulder became pastor. The arrival of Thiokol personnel and the changes in government policy toward religious activity brought about significant change in the congregation's makeup. After Intermountain Indian School closed, the focus was further placed on building a strong local mem­bership. In the early 1990s the congregation outgrew its small chapel and moved in to a downtown "storefront" church known as Living Hope Christian Reformed Church. Baptist Although a report in the Ogden Herald of 12 April 1887 states "the Baptist group was probably small and insignificant, but planned to build a Baptist University . . ."37 No official accounts of Baptist activity are evident and no Baptist Church was erected. A Baptist church was built in Tremonton in 1908.38 Old timers indicated this church had services for several years but gradually dwindled in mem­bership. There was little or no Baptist activity again until the 1950s. Reverend Delbert Fann and Reverend William Harris were among Southern Baptist clergy working with Native American stu­dents at Intermountain Indian School and saw the need for a church to serve the entire community, especially as Thiokol also appeared on 184 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY the scene. In March 1958 an organizational meeting was held and the church was formed by Harris and Fann, along with Ralph and Barbara Davis, Frank and Roberta Edwards. The first pastor called to serve was Cecil Morgan. The church purchased a home and half-completed chicken coop on the corner of 500 South and 600 West, with the pastor living in the house and the chicken coop rebuilt into a church with chapel, office, classrooms, fellowship hall and kitchen at 617 West 500 South. In 1971 the house was torn down and in 1991 a new education build­ing was erected west of the church.39 First Baptist Church also had an Indian mission chapel built closer to the Indian School. After its closure the church operated a Spanish-speaking mission in the building. In addition, the church has established outreach missions in the Tremonton area. Bible Church In 1955 the Reverend James F. Cook joined the Evangelical Protestant Group working with Navajo students at Intermountain School and in September 1956 the Reverend Ira T. Ransom was called to work with him in that mission as well as in establishing a local congregation. A church building was begun in September 1957 at 634 South 200 East and was dedicated in March 1958 with Reverend Ransom as pastor. Church membership was a mix of Native American students and local residents with Thiokol's arrival swelling the latter. A par­sonage was added nearby in 1963, with both of these edifices still in use in the 1990s.40 Holy Cross Lutheran Prior to Thiokol establishing its facility in Box Elder County, there was no Lutheran Church active in the area. When Thiokol employees began settling in Brigham City, there were enough Lutherans to establish a mission congregation. The first meeting of Lutherans was held in October 1958 to consider forming a congrega­tion, and in November a steering committee was formed. Members were Gary Broman, Don Brelsford, Dan Carroll, Jack Dieter, Charles and Martha Shoun. NON-LDS CHURCHES IN BOX ELDER COUNTY 185 1959 was a significant year for Holy Cross Lutheran Church. In February the first Lutheran worship was held at the War Memorial Home, Pastor Donald Ranstrom was called in June, a parsonage com­pleted in August, and the first official organization came in November. Services were held in the Protestant Student Center and Lincoln School until the group had its own building, with ground­breaking for the church at 750 East 100 South held in August 1960. The building was completed in March 1961 and still serves the con­gregation. 41 Church of Christ The Church of Christ was another group founded by Thiokol employees who attended services in Ogden and in Logan until they formed a local congregation in September 1961. Reverend J. K. Bentley was called as the first pastor. Services were held in a day care center located near 800 North Main until 1964 when a church build­ing was completed at 207 South 600 West.42 Assembly of God First Assembly of God was established in Brigham City in 1970 as the result of an earlier Bible Study group. Dan Legon was the first pastor and soon after its establishment, a church was built at 535 East 700 South. Victory Assembly of God Church, serving a Hispanic con­gregation, began as a mission in 1972 with a congregation formed from participants of a Bible study beginning in 1969 at the home of Henry and Maria Hernandez. The first pastor was Thomas Romero. The group met at Gillespie Hall, then purchased a building as 23 South 100 East, and later moved into the Presbyterian fellowship hall, with Tom Perea as pastor of a growing congregation. The two Assemblies combined as Victory First Assembly of God in June 1995 and hold services in the church building on Seventh South. Cooperative Ministry Council Brigham City churches formed a unique ministry beginning in 1968 as Community Presbyterian, Aldersgate Methodist, and Holy Cross Lutheran (later joined by St. Michael's Episcopal and the Christian Reformed churches) formed the Cooperative Ministry Council which conducted a weekday religious education program for 186 HISTORY OF BOX ELDER COUNTY children, combined youth activities, adult study programs, published a newsletter and directory, sponsored a Boy Scout group and held occasional joint worship services. This formal affiliation continued to some degree over 20 years. ENDNOTES 1. This chapter was written by Sarah S. Yates. 2. A. Walton Roth, A Century of Service in Utah, 1869-1969 (Salt Lake City: Presbytery of Utah, 1969), 3. 3. Ibid., 2. 4. Ibid., 4 5. Ibid., 4-5. 6. Sarah Yates, A Centennial History of the Community Presbyterian Church of Brigham City, Ut, 1878-1978 (Brigham City: n.p., 1978), 1-2. 7. Roth, A Century of Service, 6. 8. Yates, Community Presbyterian Church, 2-3. 9. Ibid., 3 10. Ellen Baker, "History of Community Presbyterian Church of Brigham City," unpublished manuscript, 1944. 11. Box Elder News, 8 August 1907. 12. Yates, Community Presbyterian Church, 11-12. 13. The First Century of the Methodist Church in Utah (Salt Lake City: United Methodist Church, 1970), 7-8. 14. Ibid., 8. 15. Jennie M. Adney, unpublished manuscript, 1946. 16. First Century of the Methodist Church in Utah, 57. 17. Box Elder News, 9 lanuary 1908. 18. First Century of Methodist Church in Utah, 57. 19. Buddhist Churches of America: 75 Year History, 1899-1974 (Chicago: Nobart, Inc., 1974). 20. Harry I. Shubin, "History of the Russian Molokan Spiritual Jumpers Faith," The Russian Molokan Directory. 21. The pamphlet was published by the Pacific Land and Water Company in 1911 under the title, Invest Dimes and Reap Dollars in Park Valley, Utah. 22. Box Elder News, 6 April 1914. 23. Box Elder News, 6 August 1914. NON-LDS CHURCHES IN BOX ELDER COUNTY 187 24. Interviews by Sarah Yates with Lawrence Carter, Dorothy Goodlife Jensen, and Elizabeth Goodlife Hirschi. 25. Edwin Kalpakoff correspondence to Sarah S. Yates, 1989-90. 26. Correspondence from Rogoff, Nazaroff, Chernabaeff, Dalmatovov, Kalpakoff, to Sarah Yates, 1989-91. 27. Perry A. Klopfenstein, Marching to Zion: A History of the Apostolic Christian Church of America: 1847-1982 (Fort Scott, Kan.: n.p., 1984), 305. 28. Ibid., 306. 29. Diana Hunsaker Myers, "Tremonton: A town born of diverse beliefs," in The Leader, 24 September 1997. 30. Ibid. 31. Klopenstein, Marching to Zion, 306. 32. Myers, "Tremonton: a town born of diverse beliefs." 33. Klopenstein, Marching to Zion, 306-7. 34. This section was compiled and excerpted from materials generously provided by Vicenta Singh. 35. Yates, Community Presbyterian Church, 15. 36. Box Elder News, 12 March 1978. 37. Ogden Herald, 12 April 1887. 38. Forsgren, History of Box Elder County, 324. 39. Mac Edwards interview by Sarah Yates, 13 March 1999. 40. Ira Ransom interview by Sarah Yates, 13 March 1999. 41. Charles Shoun, "Summary History of Lutheran Presence in Brigham City." 42. Helen Money interview by Sarah Yates, 13 March 1999.