Chapter 1 EARLY HISTORY OF THE BRETHREN IN CHICAGO

Chapter 2 THE HASTINGS STREET ERA    

Chapter 3 BROADENING OF THE HASTINGS STREET OUTREACH

Chapter 4 LEADERSHIP ROLES AT YORK CENTER

With their continued restlessness for growth, these early Brethren were soon on the move westward, and in 1892 they relocated in the area around Hastings Street near Ashland Avenue. (Hastings Street is a short street that runs parallel to and one block south of Roosevelt.) It was here that they made their first purchase of property, always before using rental properties. They purchased the buildings from a German Baptist Brethren sect who felt the neighborhood was getting a little too rough for them. Not long after the Brethren moved to the Hastings Street site, again getting part of their funding from the district and from the brotherhood, they formed a young people's society for bible study, calling it The Brethren Young Peoples Union. By 1905 they formed the first Brethren Bible School with 12 students enrolled; and by 1909 these early forebears established their first seminary at this site. Still, they had no separate sanctuary for Sunday Services, so they held their meetings in the school's chapel.

Prior to the move to the Hastings Street location, boundaries of membership were worked out with the district. By mutual decision, they decided that the Cook-DuPage County line would define their boundary, with the Naperville Church to accommodate people living west of that line. The Naperville Church had been in existence for more than fifty years by the1890's, and once even hosted Annual Conference, Naperville being handy to a railroad line. Some members in the district were reluctant to have the Brethren locate in the teeming and boisterous city. One wealthy district farmer even offered to pay for the move and help toward their expenses if they would forsake the city and locate in West Chicago. Of course this did not fit their plans for doing mission work and rendering other assistance to the inner-city needy.

One of their goals was the establishment of a dispensary as part of their mission work. A significant part of this endeavor made use of the experience and interest of our good sisters. Surprising, but one account relates that there were many Brethren women living in the city, not necessarily a part of a family, and this offered these ladies an area of endeavor in which they had keen interest enabling them to apply their caring talents.

The dispensary afforded the opportunity to mend the unfortunate children who came in for repair and healing, which quite often was followed by the children being attracted to the Sunday School classes in which these gentle ladies were the teachers. They would enter the homes of some of the children in following up the healing process, which offered the opportunity to meet the parents and engage them in dialogue.

The German Baptist Brethren from whom the facility was purchased were anxious to leave this mixed ethnic area because of problems with the neighborhood "toughs." However, the Brethren also ran into similar problems that are detailed in articles in Gospel Messenger covering those dates. The area had both German emigrants, most of whom were Catholic, but also a heavy concentration of Jews. Some of the accounts of our own early Brethren at Hastings Street report several incidents of stone throwing and other vandalism, even the tossing of a dead rat through the window of a Sunday School class. But over time, the surrounding neighborhood gradually became aware of the Brethren sincere interest in the children. This was accompanied by their dispensary giving aid to the ailing children, as well as offering instructional training and bible study, thus the mischief slowly faded away. One incident is interesting due to the ethnic distancing that is so familiar between Germans and Jews. Early on at Hastings Street when the Brethren had interested a lot of the neighborhood girls to attend their classes, the girls when leaving were taunted by the Jewish "toughs" loudly proclaiming that the girls were having crosses branded on their hands with red hot pokers.

There are many other stories recorded about the early stages in establishing the Hastings Street site. We learn that much of the initial efforts to reach out to the community were by young Brethren women drawn to the city. By reading between the lines in some of the accounts from that era one can see the influence of these women in planting the seed that germinated in the idea of opening of both the seminary and the hospital.

The stories of three exceptional young women almost leap from the pages of history as you read of them putting their faith and beliefs into practice. Interestingly, all three of the stories evolved from attendance or employment at various Brethren colleges, which gives a hint of the importance of these institutions.

During the winter of 1888 in a Sunday School class at Mt. Morris College, a statement was made that there were thousands and thousands of persons in Chicago who were not Christian and who knew nothing of the Divine Creator. Alice Boone was a student in this class and the words weighed heavily on her heart She determined she could be one to carry the good news of the gospel into such a place. With this goal in mind she made preparations for entering mission work, and determined that the place to start would be with children. She had public school experience and believed the way to a parent's heart was through children. She gave up her public school teaching job to become the first Brethren mission worker in Chicago.

As time went by, she realized that the work demanded more than one person could handle so she sought assistance. Bertha Ryan was a young lady attending a summer session at McPherson College in 1892. This was during the time when emphasis was placed on Volunteers for Mission, which later led to the development of the Student Volunteer movement. Bertha was acquainted with Dr. Vaniman and his wife, and they sent her name as a possible volunteer. Upon returning home from her brief summer session, she found a letter from Alice Boone in Chicago saying, "Come to Chicago at once, we need you." In reading it she realized that this was the opportunity for which she had been waiting, but to make the trip she had to seek funds. These were forwarded to her by Alice Boone. Upon her arrival at the mission she found that weekday bible classes and sewing sessions were offered. Besides helping in these, another important part of her job was visiting in the area homes to increase Sunday school and church attendance by the neighborhood children and hopefully, their parents.

The third interesting lady who is part of the story is Elizabeth Howe who was a teacher at Juniata College and also it's Dean of Women. When she read of the mission work being done by Alice Boone, she was stirred sufficiently that she volunteered her services to be a missionary in Chicago. She arrived in Chicago in late 1894 and gradually assumed the leadership of the city mission work. Some time later, Bertha Ryan gave up her job in local mission work to leave with the Stovers for the mission field in India.

Elizabeth Howe, during her time here, attended Moody Bible Institute, and it is reported that from this circumstance, the seed leading to the founding of Bethany Seminary was planted. A notice appeared in the Gospel Messenger of her attendance at Moody Bible Institute. Upon reading it, A.C. Wieand wondered whether it would not be desirable for the Brethren to have their own educational institution, a place where Brethren youth and Brethren ministers could receive biblical training and instruction in the Brethren way of life.

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