New Church Cost $35,000 Commodious structure Rises from Ashes of Old Second Presbyterian Built in Modern Style No Line of Church Work is Forgotten in Its Design and Construction The new Second Presbyterian church, erected to take the place of the old house of worship destroyed by fired January 9, 1910, will be formally dedicated next Sunday. The new structure was built at a cash cost of $29,000, and salvage to the amount of $6,000 was saved from the ruins, making the cost in round numbers, $35,000. The church construction was in charge of R. D. Dirksen, an elder of the congregation, who sublet all the contracts. The building plans were drawn to embody every convenience known in modern church construction. There is a pastor's study, ladies' waiting rooms and separate rooms for the Sunday school classes. The dining room and kitchen in the basement are models in every particular, a large fire place in the dining room, which will seat several hundred, being one of the attractive features. Several large dressing rooms have been constructed in the basement. The lecture room, seating 200, adjoins the auditorium on the main floor and these two rooms can be thrown together by means of a sliding panel. The large room, inclusive of the gallery and organ loft, will seat 560. On the gallery floor is located the ladies' waiting room, also the senior Sunday school rooms. Arrangements have been made so that each class can enjoy privacy, although in the same room. the primary classes will meet in the lecture room on the first floor. The pastor's study is located in the rear of the church and will be accessible from the pulpit. Some of the contractors who assisted in the construction of the church and their trade follows: Sluiter & Brauer, woodwork; Evans, plumbing; Trunck & Dowling, brick; F. W. Ridgway, electric wiring: C. E Schonbach, decorating. The church occupies a commanding and convenient location at a point where three thoroughfares meet - South Galena avenue and Oak and Pleasant streets. Presenting a handsome exterior and a beautifully finished interior, the edifice tells both the liberality of the congregation and the taste and skill of the designers and workmen. History of the Church The programmes printed for the dedicatory services contain also the following brief history of the church: The church was organized by the regular committee of Rock River Presbytery (which then covered all of northern Illinois) Oct. 30, 1847. There were 27 charter members. The three first elders were A. H. Kerr, Samuel Dickey and James W. Barber, and the first trustees, Joseph F. McKibben, Samuel Milliken and John Swanzey. The first building was begun in the fall of 1850 and dedicated free of debt in 1854. It cost $6,000, $900 of which was from abroad, $125 being from the board of church erection. A Sabbath school was organized in 1850 and has always been a prominent activity of this church. In 1895 the second building was erected, the old building being no longer adequate fort the needs of the growing congregation Rev. J. D. McCaughtry was then pastor. This building cost $18,000 and was a beautiful structure serving well the needs of the church for fourteen years, when it was destroyed by fire on Sunday morning January 9, 1910. The building which is dedicated today cost approximately $35,000, and was designed and built (as was the one which burned) by R. D. Dirksen, an elder of the church. The membership of the church, in the sixty-four years of its history, has increased from the original 27 to 485, and the Sunday school from a little handful to 300. The Presbyterian churches located at Cedarville and Dakota are largely the outgrowth of the labors of this church having been supplied with her pastors, and when organized largely made up from her membership. The building of this magnificent structure which is dedicated today, was made possible by the generosity not only of the members but by many other friends of the church in Freeport, also by a gift of $1,500 from Andrew Carnegie, to be applied upon the pipe organ. Contributed by Karen Fyock - April 7, 1911 clipping

The Delta Chi class of the Second Presbyterian church enjoyed a meeting last night at the home of Mrs. E.E. Adamson, 255 West Broadway, 16 members and two guests attending, Mrs. W.R. Oswalkt, the president presiding. The devotions were led by Mrs. Frank Davis. Delicious refreshments were served at the conclusion of the program of the evening, assistant hostesses being Mrs. Thurm Van Matre and Miss Genevieve Glasser. Freeport Journal Standard 28 May 1938