Written by Phil Wala
1882 (January 21)
In the days before the invention of motion pictures, “big screen” entertainment meant magic lantern shows. But what came before magic lanterns? Well, in 1882 you could have gone to Hennepin Avenue Church to see one of the biggest entertainment draws of the 1800s: the moving panorama – in this case, scenes from “Pilgrim’s Progress” painted on an 8’ x 800’ piece of muslin fabric, that would slowly pass before your eyes as the cloth was scrolled from one spool to another, accompanied by narration and music. This particular panorama would have taken about two hours to view in its entirety. (Minneapolis Tribune)
For photos and videos showing what a performance of the Pilgrim’s Progress panorama would have looked like, follow this link: The Grand Moving Panorama of Pilgrim’s Progress.

1899 (January 17)
Seventeen years after the moving panorama, Hennepin pastor Dr. Charles Bayard Mitchell presents another innovation in big screen entertainment: the stereopticon. While the term is sometimes mistakenly applied to the hand-held viewers for 3-D photo cards, that’s actually a stereoscope. The stereopticon is a two-lens slide projector which allows a gradual dissolve from one slide to the next. The crowd in the church was so entertained by the slides of Dr. Mitchell’s trip to Lapland, that at one point they were reported to have “smiled audibly.” (Minneapolis Tribune and Minneapolis Times)

1923 (January 14)
In a Literary Digest survey, conducted two years before the infamous Scopes “Monkey Trial,” Minneapolis pastors line up 115 to 77 in favor of banning the teaching of evolution in schools. Hennepin Avenue Church pastor Dr. Lucius H. Bugbee and associate pastor Rev. Lewis L. Dunnington both take a strong stand against such a ban, saying, “Truth cannot be legislated out of existence.” (Minneapolis Tribune)
To read the entire article, click the image below.
1957 (January 20)
In 1936, the City of Minneapolis told Border Methodist Church, a black Methodist Church on Border Avenue (near North Fourth and Lyndale) that their church building would be torn down to provide space for what would become the Minneapolis Farmers Market. So Border built a new building a few blocks west, at Fourth and Aldrich Avenues. After twenty years in that building, it happened again – their new building was now in the way of planned Glenwood redevelopment. This time, instead of building yet another new church, the Border congregation voted to accept an offer to become members of Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church. They were accepted into full membership by pastor Dr. Chester Pennington on Sunday, January 20. (Minneapolis Star)
The new members that day included lay leader Harry Davis and his family. Davis was a boxing coach, businessman, and a leading civil rights leader in the city of Minneapolis. On January 14, 1990, Davis preached this sermon in commemoration of Martin Luther King Day:

2007 (January 18)
A United States Senator from Illinois congratulates Hennepin Avenue Church on the 50th anniversary of the day it welcomed 67 individuals from Border Church into membership at Hennepin.
