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After one hundred and fifty years
the community of Oswego Prairie and
its church are still closely
associated. The origins of the
church lie in the origins of the
community, an early 19th century
German settlement, later called
Oswego Prairie.
During the 1840’s approximately 22
families, all German pioneers,
located in the Northeastern corner
of Kendall County. The names of Hemm,
Wolf, Hafenrichter, Bower, Burkhart,
and others compose the list of
charter settlers.
Like other pioneers, these Germans
had to boldly face nature, and they
cleared and cultivated their lands.
In this intimate relationship with
nature, they sensed its controlling
power, and realized their need of
reinforcement and consolation. To
satisfy this desire prayer-meetings
were held in various homes, until in
1848 plans for a “regular meeting
house” were made. The fruition of
these plans was the election of a
one room church 24’x 32’x 10’ high.
It was located upon an acre of
ground which four farmers, Leonard
Haag, John Hemm, Michael Burkhart,
and Henry Hafenrichter, gave for a
church and cemetery in the common
juncture of their respective four
80’s. There was no minister, but an
itinerant circuit rider occasionally
served it.
In the Schwab’s “History of the
Illinois Conference,” the first
reference to the Oswego Prairie
Church is, “S.A. Tobias and C. A.
Schnake, under the date of May 28th
(1850) reported the past year as one
most successful for Naperville
Circuit. There were substantial
increases in membership following
revivals at Naperville, Oswego
Prairie and Pigeon Woods.” The
history further states, “It was in
the early 50’s that two retired
preachers, Sam Tobias and Sam
Rickert living near Naperville, came
over and preached with good
results.” John Hemm and his brother
Christian, G. Faust, and two Hoffman
brothers were among those first
converted. This contact with the
Evangelical Church, and its interest
in these German settlers is perhaps
the reason for Oswego Prairie’s
membership on the present roll of
the Evangelical United Brethren
Church.
Throughout this early period the
community walked “en masse” to the
meeting house whenever meetings were
scheduled; however, during the late
50’s horse drawn buggies came slowly
into vogue and roads were laid out.
It was therefore decided to move the
church from its original site back
in the 1ow-land, to a lot located on
a central thoroughfare. Also because
the growing families urgently needed
educational facilities, the
congregation deemed it wise to build
a basement at the new site of the
church to be used as a school. In
1861 while Jacob Himmel was serving
as itinerant circuit rider from
Naperville, this plan was carried
out. The church was moved to the
high land along the road (where the
cemetery now stands) and in its
basement an elementary school was
set up.
Until 1871 this arrangement
continued, and then, following the
community which was growing North
and Eastward, an acre of ground was
purchased from George Faust upon the
Wolf’s Crossing-Oswego Road for
erection of a new church. Rev.
Valentine Forkel, the itinerant
minister, supervised this
undertaking. The building, costing
$3500, was 32’x 42’x 18’ high, and
at its entrance there was a tall
spire housing a bell, which called
the community to worship. The
service of dedication was held
October 29, 1891. Rev. Dubbs, editor
of the Boicchafter preached, and
dedicated the new church “Zurn
Dienst des dreieinigen Gottes” debt
free.
Some of the gifts given to the new
church were: a communion set from
Mrs. John Wolf, a clock from Henry
Hafenrichter, the pulpit and Bible
from Mrs. Christian Hemm, and a sofa
in the chancel from Mother Haag. The
new church continued as one of five
churches served by an itinerant
minister. The other churches on the
Plainfield circuit were: Plainfield,
Copenhagen, Wheatland, and Oswego (Stadt).
These churches differed in size and
we might say enthusiasm. Oswego
Prairie’s record however, reveals a
year round enthusiasm in the church
itself, the Sunday School, and
Catechetical classes. Money for
missions was raised, and interest in
the church affiliated orphanage is
indicated. In 1872 an entry of
$20.50 is recorded as sent to the
Chicago congregations, whose
churches were burnt in the fire of
1871.
The upkeep and administration of the
church is interesting. For example
in the year 1883-84 Rev.
Riemenschneider received $700 from
the circuit, the Presiding Elder
$100, and the Janitor a sum of $30.
The latter’s duties as enumerated
consisted of 15 in number. They
ranged from hauling coal and
blackening the stoves, to clipping
the hedges and closing and opening
the blinds. The list also states
that he was to perform these duties
“as quietly as possible.”
This period in the 70’s and 80’s
reveals an active church which
dominated the lives of its members.
It did not hesitate to censor when
this was needed, and the entry
“ausgeschlossen” with a recorded
number often appears on the annual
report of the circuit. This vigor is
proof of growth and developing
power.
The agrarian prosperity of the
community grew contemporary with
that of the church. The early
homesteads enlarged and full scale
farming became the rule. The
thriving condition of the community
manifested itself in the community’s
church, and thus, starting in 1882 a
stream of improvements and
expansions up to the present day
have occurred in the church.
The above mentioned date
commemorates the purchase by the
Sunday School of the first organ.
This was installed with a bit of
hesitancy. Next, a few years later,
a remodeling and redecoration job
was staged. The two aisles on either
side of the church were done away
with, and a central aisle marked the
place where a partition had once
been. This partition separated the
men from the women and had existed
from the time of building in 1871.
It is said that some of the pious
ladies of the congregation refused
to worship at the side of their
husbands even after the obstruction
was removed.
About 1888-89 the three churches on
the east, Wheatland, Copenhagen, and
Plainfield were removed from the
circuit leaving only Oswego Prairie
and Oswego (Stadt) as a single
charge. This made a larger number of
meetings possible, and offered the
pastor greater opportunities in
caring for these two congregations.
In 1899 under the pastorate of Rev.
Lintner the first youth organization
outside of the Sunday School was
organized. With eight members and
the pastor, the Y.P.A. was formed.
Since that time this group has been
known as the E.L.C.E., E.Y.F., and
today the Y.F.; but under all of
these titles it has succeeded in
creating a church-attached youth
group.
The turn of the century saw a
movement for enlargement originate
due to the growth in membership.
Approximately $5000 was raised to
remodel the church on the popular
L-type plan, but the final decision
in 1908 was to build an entirely new
structure. The actual construction
of the church began in 1909 as
recorded by the corner stone, but
work on the edifice was
detained when the contractor
declared bankruptcy and proved
unable to finish it. The
congregation through cooperative
spirit then completed the church and
it was dedicated free of debt on May
22, 1910 by Rev. H. A. Kramer.
The years following this date and
extending to 1930 have been a
veritable “Golden Age” in the
History of Oswego Prairie. This was
a period when the church launched
and accomplished many undertakings.
The first of these was the
petitioning of the Annual Conference
in 1912 to make Oswego Prairie an
individual charge. Since the
withdrawal of the eastern churches
in the late 1880’s, Oswego Prairie
was affiliated with Oswego (Stadt)
and served by one minister. This
affiliation was then correspondingly
dissolved in 1912. Rev. G. C. Gasser
served as the first full time
minister of Oswego Prairie in
1912-13.
Secondly in 1913 the W.M.S. began to
organize. It supported the
Missionary cause of the church and
has actively continued through the
years.
In 1918 the present parsonage, the
Chas. Shoger house, was purchased.
The site was chosen again in Oswego
to afford the minister and his
family the educational advantages of
the village.
Twenty sheds, costing over $1000,
were erected in 1919 along the north
of the church, and for this purpose
an additional quarter of an acre of
ground was purchased. George Bower,
from the congregation, served as
architect and supervised the
construction.
A complete redecoration was made in
1924 and the familiar dome with its
stars and moon was repainted a solid
cream.
When the first effects of the post
war slump during the middle 20s were
felt, it became evident that the two
churches, Oswego Prairie and Oswego
Federated (now called Federated
because of the union of the
Congregational and Evangelical Stadt
churches in 1923), could function
more securely as one charge. In 1925
Annual Conference was petitioned to
regard these two churches as one
unit, requiring one minister. He
would live in the Oswego Prairie
Parsonage and the financial and
representative organization would
run on a two-thirds Oswego Prairie,
one-third Oswego Federated basis.
During the years which followed,
when the depression of the 30’s
engulfed the community, this move
toward union made possible the
immergence in the 40’s of two
thriving churches.
The recent history needs hardly to
be related; it suffices to say that
in 1941 the chancel was remodeled
and the church redecorated; then on
December 7, 1941 a fire broke out in
the south basement damaging this
area and smudging the walls of the
entire building. Repair of the
basement and repainting was
necessitated. On April 18, 1945 the
chancel complete with new furniture
(with a divided chancel arrangement)
and a new memorial Hammond Organ was
dedicated.
In 1945 the sheds were removed and
an attractive landscaping project
was laid out. Thus the outside area
of the church was improved
paralleling the great interior
alterations.
This sketch is necessarily brief,
but in it one may see a deep,
inherent emotion running throughout.
This is the carrying out of a divine
purpose by human hands. May we hope
that the coming years shall see a
continued unified spirit between the
community and the church, thereby
bringing into further fulfillment
this divine purpose.
—JOHN HAFENRICHTER (Historian)
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