Ingleside United Methodist Church

Past and Present

Ingleside United Methodist Church, the oldest Protestant church in the Fox Lake area, celebrated its 100th anniversary during September, 2001.

The congregation was started in the late 1800's. The Rev. A. C. Logan and his wife organized a group of early settlers and summer residents into the Ingleside Congregational Church. They met for services in homes, hotels, and Gavin School under the leadership of itinerant preachers until its first building was dedicated in 1901. The wood frame parsonage and sanctuary were built by volunteer labor from a design by Oliver Sollott, a summer resident and member of the church. It was lacated on a lot on the south side of Grand Avenue, at the end of Lippincott Road about 2 blocks west of Grant High School on land donated by John L. Tweed and Dr. Brophy. Mr. Sollott started construction with a group of Frenchmen from Chicago and a contract for $3600. This didn't work very well so he dismissed the Frenchmen and hired Christian Knowles of Fox Lake to finish the church.

The new building was dedicated on 1 September 1901 with the Rev. A. C. Logan as the first pastor. Rev. James Thompkins delivered the sermon and Rev. George Mitchell delivered the prayer of dedication. Mrs. Sollott played the organ with appropriate music sung by Mr. Taylor and Mrs. McPherson and a duet by Mrs. Sollott and Mrs. Logan. Christian Knowles built the first altar and the Sollott gave the church a large Bible. The Sunday School had 25-30 children. Linn Dalziel was born in 1906, and was the first baby baptized. The first resident pastor was Chauncey Van Auken who served for about 3 years. Others who followed him were George Williams and George Mitchell. The church remained a Congregational church for about 17 years.

It was a hardworking group of men and women but it takes money to hire a minister and run a church. Many unfavorable elements in the community caused many of the early supporters to move their summer homes elsewhere and the congregation began to decline. Support was reduced until there were only irregular services with students from the Moody Bible Institute or other ministers that they could get to come out.

In the early days, the church stood out in the open without any houses near it, and the building fell into almost total disuse. People building summer cottages and hunter's shacks stole windows from it. The stoves and the chairs from the choir loft were also taken. It was also rumored that other institutions were trying to get possession of the building since it was not being used. At this time, Fox Lake was struggling to establish itself as a village but Ingleside was a thriving business community with an important railroad station. In 1916, revival in interest gave rise to the idea of moving the buildings to Ingleside. The group began to raise money and were so persistent that people began to pull their shades and pretend they weren't home when they saw them coming. Frank Howard bid to make the move for $200 - an amount that was to prove woefully inadequate. The parsonage and connecting passageway were removed and the church was moved to a plot of land donated by Mr. & Mrs. Hendricks who owned the general store (they bought it from the Strang's). He started down the road with the church but became discouraged when he got stuck in the mud on Devlin Road and said he would need additional funds to complete the job. They agreed to pay an additional $150. He later moved th parsonage but it was never reconnected to the church. The church steeple was weakened by the move and considerable work was required to repair it. The church was also placed on an inadequate foundation. The building was so badly damaged that its use could not resume until 1923. Despite this - the congregation grew.

The task of cleaning and painting seemed monumental but they went at it and before long the church was clean and sparkling and open for services. The ministers came out from Chicago and Evanston by train and often stayed with the Lumbers, Tweeds, or Strattons. They were mostly young student ministers. The Ingleside fire station was later built across the street.

By 1921 the church and Sunday School were growing nicely and a busy enthusiastic group. A group of women were getting together for sewing and quilting usually at Mrs. Hendricks or the Town Hall. They were organized in 1925 into the Ladies Aid Society and their meetings began to have more of a spiritual quality. They made large contributions to support the church with their projects.

On 15 November 1925, the church re-organized as the Ingleside Community Church, severing its Connectional affiliation. Rev. Clarence W. Tompkins presented the pledge that was to be the basis for membership and it was accepted on 20 December 1925. During this time, Samuel E. Pollock of Antioch, who later had a greenhouse there, was called to serve the church and he remained for about 2 years. Over the next several years, many improvements were made to the church and parsonage. The chancel of the church was divided, a new pulpit acquired from Elson Avenue Methodist Church, a new blue altar drape was made, the Communion table was enclosed, and a new foundation was finally put in place. The parsonage was redecorated, a bathroom was added, and a new kitchen was made from the back porch. In 1938, the parsonage was completely remodeled and modernized, making it possible for the minister to live near the church.

Once the lone Protestant Church in the community, it helped give birth to the Fox Lake Community Church in 1927, and furnished the seed out of which sprang the Lutheran Church in Long Lake. The membership continued to grow and be active in the community.

Because of the wide variety of Protestant churches from which its members originated, Ingleside Church remained nondenominational but was served by ministers from the Methodist Church. Many of them were students from Garrett Biblical Institute. The congregation joined the Methodist Church in the late 1930's and formally became the Ingleside Community Methodist Church. In 1937, the church bell was donated in memory of George Kay. More remodeling and expansion was done to serve the growing congregation. In 1948 the parsonage was again remodeled making 2 bedrooms upstairs, opening the staircase, and enclosing the front porch for a study. In August 1951, a Fellowship Hall was added to the sanctuary and for the first time, the ladies had a real kitchen and a place to serve dinners instead of carrying everything over to the town hall. Roy Nordstrom built the new addition. This also gave much needed room for Sunday School classes.

In 1955, the church pews were refinished; tearing off layers of brown paper that had been pasted on clean each year for Easter. More space was needed for Sunday School, so the upper part of the Fellowship Hall was finished into 2 youth activity rooms and an inside and outside stairway were added. $300 from the Tillmann Memorial fund and volunteer labor was used to do the job.

And the congregation continued to grow.

The Jackson house, next to the north, was acquired with the thought of using it for a better parsonage, disposing of the old to give more space to expand and remodel the church. In the meantime, it was used for Sunday School classes and the nursery. Classes met also at the Town Hall and at the fire station. They stopped at 9th grade because there just wasn't enough room. By 1958, the combined buildings were so crowded that it was decided to find an entirely new site. A tract of land-13 acres-off Grand Avenue at the end of Wesley and Maple Streets was purchased giving plenty of room for expansion. This was needed because the Methodist Church requires at least 5 acres before construction could begin. By 1960, the debt on the Jackson house and the new land were paid. A fundraising campaign was held to get pledges to cover the cost of a new parsonage as they were renting a house for the pastor and his family. The caretaker of the church property was occupying the old parsonage. The campaign was quite successful, and work was started feeling more money would come in. Volunteer labor and many donations of material completed the work. By 1 May 1964, Rev. James Hagerty and his family moved into a large 7-room parsonage with a full basement.

Another campaign was started to get pledges to add to the existing fund and the money from the sale of the old property. The congregation raised $16,000 and with the aid of funds from a Church Builders call, construction was begun on the education facility of the new church. A new fireproof, 2-story brick and concrete building was erected. The structure was designed and constructions supervised by Rev. Louis Hillendahl, an experienced graduate engineer who was pastor at that time. The building contained 4 classrooms, a Sunday School office, a kitchen, and community hall on the lower level, with 5 classrooms and the Chapel on the upper floor. A full sanctuary was planned for the future. On 25 September 1966, the current building was dedicated.

Since the move to the current location, the facility has served as the home for many community groups including the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, another congregation, Alcoholics Anonymous, Mom's Place, and Head Start; many of whom continue to use the building today. The Ingleside congregation is involved in many mission projects locally, nationally, and worldwide, primarily Heifer Project International.

Over the years, the Ingleside United Methodist Church and its congregation has had their ups and downs, but has remained in faithful service to our Lord and His people for over 100 years. We look forward to the next hundred!