History of the Whiting Methodist Church

Gayle Faulkner-Kosalko May 2024

(During the Indiana Preservation Conference, many of the sessions were held at the beautiful Whiting United Methodist Church.  Church member Priscilla McCarty Reed gave this presentation at the conference on the church's architecture and history.  This revised article is based on Priscilla’s writing and research.)

Whiting has always been known for its six Catholic School and Churches with their ethnic memberships.  But long before the immigrants came from Eastern Europe to settle here, bringing with them their customs, language and their Catholicism, many of the residents of Whiting were Methodists from the East.  These were Chemists and researchers who became the upper echelon of beginnings of the Standard Oil Company.

    The Methodist Episcopal religion, founded by John Wesley who introduced it in America, goes all the way back to the colonies before the Revolutionary days.  It moved westward,  beginning its impact in the state of Indiana around 1800.  The Northwestern part of the state was one of the last to develop because the area was simply marshland and sand dunes.   In its earliest days, the Potawatomi Indians and a few white men were its only inhabitants.  The Indians moved west of the in 1838 and the Northwestern District began to develop. Soon circuit riders began to move through the area.

      Circuit riders traveled by horseback to preach the gospel and establish churches until there was scarcely any place in the United States without a Methodist presence, just as John Wesley had done himself in America and England. 

     During the summer of 1880, a small Methodist Sunday school class met at the home of Aleck Stover on Ohio Avenue here in Whiting.

Ten children, using boxes for seats, assembled in his backyard. Mr. Stover  was the class teacher and his daughter, Mary, the song leader. The Stovers would move their portable organ to their back door and the children grouped around Miss Emma Schwalm, the organist, to sing for an hour each Sunday afternoon, weather permitting.  During winter, the group met at the Congregational Church on Center Street. (before it became Sacred Heart Church)  Later they would meet regularly at the Whiting School House which would be built on the corner of 119th Street and Oliver.

     When the School House was built, the children often met at the Stover home to practice their songs.   Church records show that seventeen children rehearsed songs for thirty minutes and then "marched down 119th Street to the school building" singing "Onward Christian Soldiers."

   While a permanent Sunday school was organized in 1891 and held in the school building on 119th, there was no permanent pastor or church itself.  Coming by horse and buggy, like the very early Methodist Circuit riders, the first was a Rev. Reno who traveled from the East Chicago Methodist Church to Whiting on Sunday afternoons.

     The next year, but only for six months, a Reverend Calver was appointed pastor.  He resigned because the pay was not high enough that he could continue his theology studies at the Garrett Biblical Institute, from which the next pastors had also attended. 

    In 1891 a regular Sunday School was organized.  Due to shift work at Standard Oil Company, there were no regular teachers but   volunteers were plentiful and the Sunday school progressed very rapidly.  In a short time its 17 members grew to 35 members. Soon the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in the new school building and Emma Schwalm moved from Stover’s back porch to  became the permanent organist for many years. 

At this time, the group continued to meet in the school building and the Sunday school class continued to grow rapidly. 

The First Church Building 

       It was Jacob Forsythe who donated a lot to the Methodist group back in 1894.  The lot was just  north of the current church.  The lot was big enough to later have the Masons require the land on which they would build their Masonic Temple and the Standard Oil Company and Rockefeller would build a Memorial Community Center for the citizens, both in the 1920s.

    Meanwhile, the early congregation raised $3,000 to build a small church which was dedicated in October 1895.  The church would be known as the Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church.

     The Whiting Democrat described the building as "neat, pretty and attractive."  The frame structure was thirty by fifty feet and the exterior was finished with stained shingles and arched windows with cathedral glass.  The interior was finished in natural pine.  There were  for seating and the auditorium was lighted by kerosene lamps and heated by a coal stove. 

     Just as Reverend Calver had come to pastor as a student of the Garrett Biblical Institute, the new pastors who came to the church were students there as well. The Garrett Biblical Institute had been started with the inheritance of a Methodist woman, Eliza Clark Garret.  Her husband Augustus was Mayor of Chicago at the time.  The Garrett Biblical Institute was created in 1853 in Evanston, IL. 

     Now the first resident pastor was Reverend Jesse Hickman who came in 1904.  There was a great religious revival at this time and many new members were added to the membership. 

     During the next ten years, the growing membership soon outgrew the little church.    Early church records show that during the years from 1905 through 1907, fifteen members of the church were baptized in Lake Michigan by emersion.   

The Second Church Building 

   A visit from the Methodist Episcopal Church Board prompted a letter that indicated they felt the "embarrassed condition of your church" but they also approved a loan for improvement of the building.  The church was remodeled by raising it one story and making extensive additions.  While the church was under construction, members worshiped with the Congregational Church which was located on 119th Street which later became City Hall.

    The architectural style of the new structure, which could seat 300, was English Gothic.  Heated by a furnace and lighted by electricity and gas, a large new reed organ was added. The sanctuary alone was larger than the entire, previous church building.   A basement was added and a gym-like building for recreational activities was built. 

     Due to the swampy ground, the gym was built on stilts.  The remodeling cost was $8000 and this new church was dedicated on December 30th and 31st, 1905.

    The remodeled building had a large basement for Sunday school as well as socials and entertainments that took place for fellowship and fund-raising and the membership had many social events, bringing the congregation together.

    One of the favorite activities was the "trolley party.  A street car was chartered and round-trip tickets were sold for fifty cents each.  A band was on board and many passengers dressed in costumes.   A newspaper article about one of the parties said the trolley passengers  stopped in Hammond so everyone could enjoy "provisions of tin horns and Crackerjack."   These trolley parties were very popular and at least two were held each summer for many years. 

       In 1917 the church board decided that the gym created issues of supervision of activities and extra expense of renewing the equipment.  The building would be sold and the money would be used to redecorate the church.  This was completed when the gym building was sold for lumber in 1920.

    Now once again Standard Oil came to the Methodist Board asking to buy additional land and the City as the street design needed to be changed.  The original street the Church and Community Center planned for its Memorial House was called Short Street.   Naturally, it was short but its buildings were with cheap and shoddy. Short Street’s name then became Community Court which would become a triad of Whiting’s most beautifully and architecturally important  buildings – the Community Center, the Masonic Lodge and the Methodist Church.

    By 1922 the ever-growing membership needed still another new building.  This time they could afford to go with well known architects Lowe and Bollenbacher who were known for designing churches and university buildings.   They had built Kenn College of Law in Chicago as well as sorority and dormitory buildings at Northwestern.  Later Bollenbacher would join architect Granger to design the Chicago Cubs Building in 1929. 

   So in 1922 the plans for this new third building were approved.  The second church was torn down.    The beams, door frames and the stained glass windows were then used in building the Hyde Park Methodist Church Harrison Street in  Hammond.  The Church is still in existence today. 

    Construction for the last Methodist Church to be built began in January, 1923.  The cost of the new church building, including the furnishings, the pipe organ, the pulpit and the chancel equipment, was approximately $87,400. 

     The membership held numerous fund raisers such as oyster, family, and pancake suppers, pie-eating contests, bazaars, and plays for adults and children.  They even went to  Standard Oil Company to secure funds.  The black metal fence that surrounds most of the property was forged at Standard Oil Company.  The new church was dedicated on December 27, 1923. 

Important Church Members  

     One significant person that stands out in the church's history is Dr. Robert E. Humphreys who  was passionate about this church and his community which helped make the monetary connection with the Standard Oil plant.  In the early 1900's Standard Oil Company hired him as a chemist.  Along with William Burton, Humphreys researched ways to increase gasoline production.  The process was dangerous and a Standard Oil Director in New York said, "These guys want to blow the whole state of Indiana into Lake Michigan."  This did not occur and in 1912 the process "thermal cracking" was perfected and significantly changed gasoline output.   

Dr. Humphreys became a trend setter as he continually motivated the church to reach new goals.  He was instrumental in the building of this new third church building, and was passionate about developing a music program.   The church's pipe organ was a gift from Dr. and Mrs. Robert E. Humphreys.  He sponsored voice lessons for at least one person in the choir.  He and his wife were both members of the choir.  He expected members to pay their pledges and if they did not, they received as many as 9 letters and were put on probation.   

     Another prominent person was Dr. William Putnam.  A physician in Whiting's early days, who built a three story clinic on the corner of 119th Street and Schrage Avenue which later became the Standard Hotel and is now the Viet Nam Memorial.  Putnam was very involved with the Sunday school program. 

    Another family that contributed much to the church was the Ingraham family.  They brought music to the church through voice and piano.  One of their children was Herbert Ingraham,   later a popular song writer in his adult years, who was acclaimed for composing  many ragtime tunes. 

Significant Pastor 

    In 1944, a new pastor, Dr. George Frances, was appointed.  He developed a quarterly newsletter called the "Methodist News" that was sent out only to members who subscribed.  His changes to the worship service initially caused quite a stir.  His sermons were quite long,  causing many members to voice their displeasure.  Another significant change  he made was to pass communion to members while they stayed seated in the pews.  In order to accomplish this, Dr. Francis made and installed racks to hold communion glasses.  These are still on the pews today.  Francis drew many youth into the church and his wife was involved in many church organizations and well as responsible for setting up frequent speakers for the community at large.  His Sunday service grew so large that two services were needed to meet the demand! 

    On Christmas 1950 the church gave Dr. Frances and his wife a surprise.  The members were secretly contacted and a campaign was started to raise $1800 by December.  At the Christmas Eve service, the church was filled.  The announcement was made that the church was giving the pastor and his wife a 1951 Deluxe 4-door Ford Sedan.  Quite a nice Christmas surprise! 

Churches Merge 

    In 1968 at a uniting conference in Dallas, Texas, the Evangelical United Brethren and The Methodist Churches merged.  The name of the churches was changed to First United Methodist Church.   

    At this time in Whiting there was two Methodist Churches, the First Methodist Church by the Community Center and The Lakeside Evangelical United Brethren Church on the corner of Indianapolis Boulevard and 116th Street (where Franklin School is today).

    The merger was approved in 1970 leaving one Methodist Church, today's Whiting United Methodist Church. 

Community Involvement 

    The First United Methodist Church has always been involved in the community and its youth.  The church had reached out to the community with a monthly freewill community meal, preemie hat knitting and crochet group, and a place for community groups to meet such as AA and Girl Scouts.  At one time, the church operated a thrift shop and ran a very popular Mothers Day plant sale.

    But unfortunately, like all churches in Whiting in the 21st century, membership has dwindled.

    Note that the United Methodist Church’s building is so important that architectural students from the University of Chicago have come many times to see it.

    And you can see it every Sunday when worship service is held at 10am.  And has always been the cast, everyone is very welcome.