Written by Phil Wala

1868 (December 6)

Centenary Methodist Church, the church that would give birth to Hennepin, dedicates its new stone building on the south corner of 7th Street and Marquette (then Minnetonka). Local papers have effusive praise for this magnificent edifice and for the pastor who oversaw the building program, Rev. J. F. Chaffee. (photo Hennepin County Library, article Minneapolis Tribune)

1896 (December 6)

Dr. Charles Bayard Mitchell, who will take over as Hennepin’s new lead pastor in March, is in Minneapolis to meet his new congregation. Local newspapers come to hear him speak, and provide a detailed assessment of his preaching style. (article Minneapolis Times, photo Minneapolis Tribune)

1911 (December 6)

Rev. J. F. Chaffee dies in California at the age of 84. He was not the “founder and first pastor” as the article states (he was actually Hennepin’s third pastor), but he was a central figure in the events leading up to the birth of Hennepin Church. (Minneapolis Journal)

1912 (December 7)

Ground is broken for the new Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church at Groveland and Lyndale. (Minneapolis Tribune)

1916 (December 4)

Andrew Gillies recently resigned as pastor due to the exhaustion which forced him to be absent from the pulpit for much of the past year. Although Rev. C. W. Burns has taken his place as pastor, Hennepin Church has kept Gillies on the payroll as “pastor emeritus,” and now pledges to pay his salary for up to five years in a new role as Professor of Homiletics at Boston University School of Theology. Minneapolis department store founder George Dayton will also contribute toward Gillies’ support. (Minneapolis Journal)

1932 (December 4)

Legendary CBS newsman Eric Sevareid, whose broadcast career ran from 1939-1977, was known for his battlefield reports, insightful essays, and his hard-hitting interviews with world leaders. What you may not know is that his career in professional jounalism began as a 20-year-old University of Minnesota student interning with the Minneapolis Journal. December 4, 1932 was the first time an article in the Journal carried a byline with the name Arnold E. (Eric) Sevareid.

The subject of Sevareid’s first feature article as a cub reporter? The friendship between two college buddies: Dr. A. Raymond Grant, now pastor of Simpson Church, and Dr. Richard Raines, pastor of Hennepin Avenue Church, at the time the two largest Methodist churches in Minnesota. Click on the image to read Sevareid’s report as it appeared in the Sunday Magazine section of the Minneapolis Journal 92 years ago this week. (US Postal Service, Minneapolis Journal)

1956 (December 2)

Hennepin pastor Dr. Chester Pennington is a guest at the Sunday morning service of Border Methodist Church, which is about to lose its building to the Glenwood redevelopment project. This morning he stands alongside Border pastor Dr. Charles Sexton to formally invite the all-black congregation to join Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church. The merger will take place in January 1957. Click on the photo to read the story of the Border-Hennepin Union, as documented by John Carroll on the merger’s 50th anniversary. (MN Historical Society and HAUMC archives)

1973 (December 1)

HAUMC is one of many churches having to cope with ramifications of the 1973 energy crisis. (Minneapolis Star)

2002 (December 2)

HAUMC advertises its informal Thursday evening gathering, City Crossings. (City Pages)