Written by Phil Wala
1876 (December 12)
One week after a Brooklyn theater fire took 300 lives, Minneapolis nearly suffers a similar catastrophe as fire sweeps through the Jefferson School on 10th and Hennepin during the school day. Tragedy is averted, however, as heroic teachers calm the students and lead all of them to safety. What connects this story to Hennepin Church? Two things:
- The school board will decide to rebuild at a different site, and sell the property at 10th and Hennepin. The buyer will be Hennepin Avenue M. E. Church, which will move their “Tabernacle” to the rear of the former school lot, and then construct their first “permanent” building (the “red brick church”) here.
- One of the heroic teachers credited with saving the lives of the school children was named Olive Branch (yes, her real name). Two years later, she would become the second wife of the widowed Levi Longfellow, a founding member of Hennepin Church, and would devote the rest of her life to the children of Hennepin Sunday School. After she dies in 1915, a room in the new building at Lyndale and Groveland will be dedicated to her: The (Olive Branch) Longfellow Room.
The reporting of the Minneapolis Tribune is noteworthy for its melodramatic style. In a front page editorial, the paper conjectured that it could have ended differently, with the students rushing the narrow stairs and becoming “packed in a dense and smothered and inextricable mass, until the smoke should strangle and the flames lap them up as the sacrificed victims of the ignorance of the architect who constructed and the authorities who approved the miserable plan on which the building was erected.” Click on the picture to read the entirety of the Tribune’s dramatic reporting on the day of the fire.
1898 (December 13)
Canadian evangelists Crossley and Hunter hold the last in their month-long series of revival services at Hennepin Church. The services have been held every night (except for Saturdays) since November 13, with overflow crowds nearly every night. (photo University of Waterloo, article Minneapolis Times)

1908 (December 8)
The new Fowler Methodist Church sanctuary at Franklin and Dupont is dedicated. Three years from now, Hennepin Church will merge with the Fowler congregation, and the combined congregations will use this building until the new cathedral at Lyndale and Groveland is ready. The building will then be sold to the Scottish Rite Temple. This sanctuary will have been used as a church for only eight years. (photo Hennepin County Library)

1933 (December 14)
In a front page story, the Minneapolis Star names Hennepin pastor Dr. Richard C. Raines one of Minneapolis’ “most charming persons.” (Minneapolis Star)

1938 (December 8)
Noted American poet, author, and journalist Carl Sandburg lectures at Hennepin M. E. Church. (Minneapolis Journal)

2000 (December 14)
“The Nativity: A Living Pageant of Christmas” was an annual tradition at Hennepin Church, begun in 1987 by Glen and Marilyn Nelson as a memorial tribute to their daughter Juliet, who had died in an automobile accident. Final performances were held in December 2000. For those who never had a chance to see it, or for those who would like to see it again, click the photo to view a performance videotaped on December 14, 2000. (HAUMC archives)