Cost of trip....................................................................................................	$55.00
	Receipts.......................................................................................................	00.00
	Loss.............................................................................................................	$55.00

The Legislature of Wisconsin, then in session in Burlington, passed an Act of Incorporation, which was approved June 22, 1838. This was one of the first acts of its kind passed for Iowa, and the following in its substance. It provided that: "John C. Sleeth, Thomas Ballard, William R. Ross, Robert Avery and Robert Cock, and such other free white persons of full age, as shall be associated with them, according to the rules and discipline of said (M.E.) Church, shall be, and are hereby constituted and made a body in deed and law, by the title and name of the 'Trustee of the M.E. Church in the city of Burlington,' with perpetual succession, and are hereby made capable in law to have, purchase, receive, take, hold, possess and enjoy to them and their successors, to the use of the said M.E. Church in Burlington, Lots 374 and 375."
   During the summer and fall of 1838, the work on the building was pressed vigorously. In a report signed John C. Sleeth and Robert Cock, in which they state the amount of the original subscription to be $1,500, they say: "After having proceeded with the building to a considerable extent, an opportunity presented itself of renting the church (if completed) to the Legislative Assembly. Thinking this opportunity a favorable one for raising funds to pay the expenses of erection, every effort was made to have the building completed in time for that special purpose." This report was made to the Quarterly Conference March 6, 1841. The proposition to rent the church came from Hon. Robert Lucas, Governor of the Territory. The work on the church, so far as it was then completed, was finished by December, 1838, but nothing further was done than to inclose it and put on one coat of plastering. The part then built consisted of the "old part" only; the present front and tower were not built until 1846. The doors that stood under the front of the old gallery were originally the front doors of the building. A framed platform extended along the front of the church on the outside, on a level with the floor of the audience-room; this platform stood on turned posts, and was ascended by a flight of steps from the front pavement. The building, as completed, cost about $4,500.
  The Legislature took possession of the building immediately after its completion. The upper room was assigned to the House of Representatives, the front basement to the Senate, and the rear basement was divided by rough board partitions into offices for the Legislative and Territorial officers. Some long benches were provided by the Trustees, but the chairs used in the halls were provided by the Government. The Speakers' desks were made of boards roughly planed and nailed together, so as to form a kind of stand, and the one in the audience-room served, at preaching times, for the pulpit. Amid such surroundings the machinery of legislation was put in motion in the Territory of Iowa.
   In their report of 1841, the Trustees gave their aggregate receipts to that date as follows: Received for rent from the Legislature, $2,200; on subscription, $980; Total $3,180. Remaining debt, $1,320; total cost, $4,500. To meet this debt they had a balance of rent due, $300, and of subscription (depreciated) of about $500.
   The debt continued for some years to be a source of vexation and trouble. Rev. D. G. Cartwright relates that while he was filling the place of Rev. I. I. Stewart, during his absence in 1840, the building was threatened with sale, but he succeeded in getting a number of the creditors to release their claims, and in this way over $1,000 of the debt was canceled in less than two days. Dr. Ross, whose attachment to the church was manifested in the most substantial way, writes: "I paid for most of the rock, lime, lumber and all the brick, beside many of the other materials, and many of the workmen, costing me upward of $6,000; and, after all, to keep it from being sold at a sacrifice—for it had gone through a court of law and equity, and Conference—I had to sell my own private residence, which cost me $3,400, for $1,200 to save and free the church from debt."
   The location of Old Zion, on the west side of Third street, between Washington and Columbia streets, is excellent, being sufficiently central for the northern part of the city, convenient of access to the hotels, and comparatively retired. The church stands on Lots No. 374 and 375 of the original town plat of Burlington. The claim to the town site was held by two brothers-in-law named White and Doolittle, and was purchased, as has been stated, by Dr. Ross for $100. The title, however, passed through the preacher, Bastion, who was bound in a penal bond of $10,000 to make the Trustees a title according to the deed of settlement of the M.E. Church, as laid down in the discipline, so soon as he should receive the same from the Patent Office at Washington. The duplicate of the certificate of title, issued in the name of Bastion, was placed in the hands of John C. Sleeth, who was to send it and the entry money to the Land Office. The lots were finally patented to the Trustees of the Church February 4, 1841.
   The Iowa Patriot, of December 13, 1838, contains the following: "The new Methodist meeting-house is now occupied by the Legislative Assembly. It is a very neat and substantial building. The basement story, partitioned off for Conference and class meetings, is composed of stone, and the upper part of brick. It is in a commanding situation, and when finished with its cupola and bell, it will be a great ornament to the city of Burlington."
   The Legislature of Iowa held four sessions in Old Zion, viz.: The regular session of 1838–39 and 1839–40; the extra session of July, 1840, and the regular session of 1840–41. The appropriation bills show that the Territorial Government paid for the use of the church a total of $2,500.
   Beside its use by the Legislature, the church was rented for several years for the Supreme Court of Iowa, and the District Court of Des Moines County. While used for this purpose in June, 1845, the Mormon murderers, the Hodge brothers, were tried and convicted of murder in the first degree. The verdict was delivered on Sunday morning, June 22, and in the afternoon of the same day, the wretches were sentenced to death from the pulpit of Old Zion, by Hon. Charles Mason. They suffered the extreme penalty of the law July 15 following.
   The church being, at that time, the only commodious building in Burlington, was used for a long time for political meetings, lecturers and even shows.
   On the 23d and 24th of January, 1840, it was the scene of an Indian council, held by Gov. Lucas with the chiefs of the Sac and Fox Indians. About fifty Indians, including Hardfish, Nasheaskuk, and many other prominent men of the tribes, were present. They came to complain of the desecration of the old Black Hawk's grave. The whole affair would up with a big war dance and Indian show.
   On Monday night, December 16, 1838, it was the headquarters of a company of soldiers, numbering about one hundred and fifty, from Muscatine, who were on their way to the threatened border war between Iowa and Missouri, respecting the Territorial line. The principal circumstance remembered with this event is that of their being supplied with a barrel of whisky by the citizens, many of whom joined with the volunteers in the revelry of the night.
   After the vacation of the church by the Courts, the basement was fitted up for school purposes.
   Four sessions of the Iowa Conference have been held at Old Zion, viz:
   September 3–8, 1845—Bishop Morris; Secretary, H. W. Reed.
   September 20, October 4, 1852—Bishop Ames; Secretary, M. H. Hare.
   August 21–26, 1861—Bishop Scott; Secretary, E. H. Waring.
   September 2–7, 1868—Bishop Janes; Secretary, E. H. Waring.
On account of its various uses, the building was known by different names. Usually, in early times, it was called "The Methodist Church"; but frequently it was styled "The Court House" or "The State House." An illustration of the use of the latter title is found, queerly enough, in a religious notice in the Iowa Patriot of December 13, 1838: "A two-days' meeting will be held in the State House on Saturday evening next, and continuing until Sunday night. Revs. Scott and Arrington are expected.
   The popular name of "Old Zion" dates from 1851. J. S. McKenny, formerly one of the editors of the Burlington Telegraph, gives the following account of the christening: "In 1851, we were publishing, in company with Hon. James M. Morgan, the Daily Telegraph. Some time during the year, it was found that the roof of the church was in very bad condition, and the ladies of the congregation determined upon holding a festival to raise funds to put a new roof on the building. When the time arrived for holding the festival, the late Hon. Judge Stockton came to the Telegraph office, and requested that we should get up a 'poster' for the occasion, saying that he would leave the matter with us. The bill was printed, the leading lines reading thus: 'Old Zion wants a new roof.' We had no intention at the time of naming the church, our object in using the name being merely to make the bill attractive, but thus we accidentally had the honor of naming 'Old Zion.'"
   The name thus given was immediately attached to the church, and has continued to be its title. In 1854, the station organized in the church was recognized by the Conference as Old Zion Station. In reference to the remarkable history of the old church, Hon. Charles Mason, in his speech delivered at the Old Settlers' Festival, held in Old Zion Church, June 2, 1858, made some interesting remarks which we reproduce:
   "As illustrative of the novel use to which it was necessary to adapt the limited means within our reach in those early days, and the shifts to which we were driven by the great mother of invention, I need but remind you of some of the scenes which have been witnessed within these very walls. The main body of this edifice has now been standing about twenty years. It was the first, and for many years the only, church-building in the city of Burlington. Whoever at the present day sits within its hallowed precincts, listening to the fervid prayer, the calm discourse, the swelling anthem, the loud hosanna, would be very erroneous in the conclusion that these were the only sounds that had ever echoed within its consecrated walls. No; other halls have witnessed more important and more tragical scenes; but where will you find those that can give a more varied history of what had transpired within them?
   "Here was embodied for a number of years the legislative wisdom of the Territory of Iowa—the 'Lower House' occupying, paradoxically, the halls above, and the 'Upper House' the rooms below. From these went forth those edicts which for many a year have ruled this goodly land. Here too, the supreme judicial tribunal of the Territory held its sometime session, and the regular terms of the District Court were here convened for many a successive year. Here the rights of person and property were adjudicated; here the felon trembled and hoped at the prospect of an inefficient penitentiary, and here the murderer received his final earthly doom.
   "Nor is this all. With the eye of vivid recollection I see before me the assembled patriotism of this young city in democratic council convened, to hear the propositions brought by the bearers of a flag of truce from a hostile camp, to discuss, in high debate, the momentous question of peace or further war with our more powerful though not more valiant antagonist. A model war was that and right worthy of our praise, where not one drop of hostile blood was shed; where those who won the glory paid the bills, and ever since then their hearts have inclined to peace.
   "Finally, within these walls the amiable Governor of the Territory met in friendly conference the representatives of some of his dissatisfied red children, to hear their complaints, and at least to promise them redress—an easy and oft-repeated remedy. Here the citizens listened to the native eloquence of the red men, and were treated to the exhibition of the song and the war-dance. The wild whoop of the savage, which had so often carried dismay and horror to many a stout heart, failed to make any impression upon Old Zion, which then, as now, looked on in strange gravity, and seemed to be fully determined not to be surprised at any strange scene that might transpire within it."
   The war to which the Judge referred was the dispute which sprang up between the State of Missouri and Iowa respecting their border line, when the military forces were actually called out and bloodshed seemed not improbable.
   Nor has Old Zion lacked a poet to celebrate its history in immortal verse. At the Old Settlers' Festival, before referred to, Johnson Pierson, Esq., read a poem, in which there are the following lines:
"Now rose thy walls, Old Zion, which have stood
The dread assaults of wasting time and flood.
Thou wast our hope for many rolling years,
Shook with our joy, as often soothed our tears,
Poured out like raindrops from the smitten cloud
When the live vaulting thunder rifts its shroud.
Thou wert our forum, scene of many a sport,
In Pleasure's drama and Ambition's court.
Here, too, our village beauty rushed to see
The motley Indian-dance of savage glee;
Here was the patriot's stand, when border war
Chained his fierce dragons to his bloody car.
But our good guns, and swords of burnished sheen,
Showed we were brave—a dangerous set of men.
We went, saw, conquered—not the foe—the meat
Our knapsacks held; then made—a grand retreat!
We rushed with eager haste from war's alarms,
Covered with glory, to our shops and farms,
To hear the plaudits; 'Patriots brave, well done!'
So thou, old pile, hast been our guiding star
In all the varied scenes of peace and war."
   After the church was abandoned by the Legislature, in 1840, the members united and put in some rough benches, with a narrow back to each seat. These were placed in the "amen corners," and just in front of the stand. The rest of the house was filled with benches destitute of backs. About 1845, the house was comfortably fitted with pews. The plastering, however, was not finished for several years.
   The first pulpit, as used by the Speaker of the Legislature, was succeeded by a regular "tub" concern, that half encircled the preacher as he stood within it. The third pulpit, a high and massive structure, "marbleized," and no doubt thought tasteful in its day, was built by Evan Evans, Esq. Inside of one of the columns, when taken down in 1862, was found written in pencil, "August 22nd, 1845." This pulpit was displaced by a small grained desk, erected by Rev. E. H. Waring, in 1862. But its day was brief, for in the renewal of the church in 1864, the neat, small pulpit of oak and walnut now in use took its place. The pulpit originally stood in its present position; but, in 1843, the seats were reversed, and the pulpit placed between the entrance doors. This was done at the instance of the Presiding Elder, Rev. B. Weed, in order to avert the confusion incident upon a whole congregation turning round to scan every new arrival. But later, the original arrangement was restored.
   The front and cupola date to 1846. Then, under the superintendence of Rev. E. S. Norris, the addition, including the vestibule, stairways, gallery and steeple, was put up, at a cost of $1,200. The external work was much better done than the internal. The stairs were awkwardly arranged, and the gallery—once termed by C. Dunham, late editor of the Hawk-Eye, "the cock-loft of Old Zion"—was almost wholly unfit for use.
   The bell, weighing 1,452 pounds, was put in in 1850. It was of fine material and of excellent tone. In 1862, the Old Zion and Ebenezer stations were united under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Waring. In the spring of 1864, by a vote of the membership, at a meeting held for the purpose, the place of meeting was changed to Ebenezer. Upon the occurrence of these events, the friends of Old Zion rallied, a meeting was held, and it was determined to repair the church, and ask for a re-establishment of Old Zion Station. Subscriptions were taken, and the work of restoration undertaken. The Hawk-Eye chronicled the changes thus:

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