Written by Phil Wala
1869 (June 24)
Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church (the church from which Hennepin Church would emerge) holds their annual strawberry and ice cream festival and receives a particularly kind (and unbiased?) review from the Minneapolis Tribune.
1870 (June 24)
It’s time again for the annual strawberry and ice cream festival at Centenary Church. This time they claim to be prepared to feed up to five thousand people (they may have had a biblical miracle in mind). The news item the next day says that “there was no suffocating crowd,” suggesting they may have fallen short of that goal.
1875 (June 19)
The fourth and final day of John Horton’s church trial ends with the jury deciding that the knockout punch delivered to Dr. Stanton was sufficient to exclude Horton from “the kingdom of grace and glory” and to merit his expulsion from the church. The verdict is appealed. (Minneapolis Tribune)
1894 (June 18)
The Tribune reports on Hennepin’s Children’s Day program which featured the singing of caged birds.
1902 (June 222)
Asbury Hospital,¹ which was started by Hennepin member Sarah Harrison Knight in 1892, is laying the cornerstone for a new building. It is being built on land donated by Knight, across from Elliot Park.² (article: Minneapolis Times; photo: Hennepin County Library)
¹ renamed Methodist Hospital when it moved to St. Louis Park in 1959.
² this building is now North Central University’s Miller Hall.
1905 (June 20)
The Dunkard (German Baptist) denomination orders its members not to use this wicked new contrivance. Among those offering opposing views is Rev. J. L. Pitner, presiding elder in San Diego, California, and former pastor of Hennepin Avenue Church. (Los Angeles Herald)
1914 (June 19)
A car is stolen from in front of Hennepin Avenue Church, and the car thieves lead police on a high-speed chase — with speeds as high as 35 mph! (Minneapolis Tribune)
2001 (June 24)
Rev. Dennis Oglesby, Hennepin’s Minister of Evangelism and Equipping Ministries from 2000 to 2006, played the key role in founding the Dignity Center ministry in 2002. In a sermon from this week in 2001 he speaks on the topic “How to Be Driven by the Holy Spirit.” Click here to listen
2003 (June 22)
Rev. Jeanette (Jan) Pettit was Minister of Congregational Care at Hennepin Avenue Church from 1991 to 2004. The photo shows Pettit with church member Emma Gage. In a sermon from 2003 entitled “Who Cares?” Pettit talks about the times when is seems that God doesn’t care. Click here to listen
Note: Rev. Dennis Oglesby died in 2024. Rev. Jeanette Pettit died in 2017.