MUSCATINE COUNTY IOWA HISTORY

Pg 169
Picture – Peace Evangelical United Brethern Church 1960 – Courtesy of Beulah Lang.
This is the country church on Highway 38 south of Wilton. It is now called Peace United Methodist and has been moved back and remodeled.

Peace United Methodist Church
by Beulah Lang

Transcribed by Shirley Plumb, April 26, 2015

     In the year 1860, church services were held in homes and schoolhouses in Wilton. These services were the result of camp meetings which were held in a grove near Grandview, Iowa, where the first Evangelical Church was organized in Iowa in 1856. From the interest that was shown in these meetings, a church was organized by farm families (“Friendens”) in the spring of 1860 by Father and Mother Henry Lang, Sr. and Father and Mother John Brown, Sr. They had a burning desire to see others in their families and community brought to the Lord, so they, with Father and Mother Jacob Valet, who were members of the church near Grandview, decided to build a church three and one half miles southwest of Wilton. They named it Peace Evangelical Church, probably as a reminder that by conversion they had obtained that peace which was so dear to them. The building was a simple one-room structure. They built well as is evidenced by the fact that it has served this community or over a century. Other names appearing on the early church records are families of J. H. Pippert, Schneider, Nicolaus Lang, Henry Lang, J. C. Lang, Paulus Han, Sr., John Brown, John Mark, Schwin M. Rost, George Lang, John Hahn, Henry Hahn, Paulus Hahn, Jr., Doerfer and A. Rexroth.

    The first parsonage was located in Muscatine and later was sold. The pastor lived in the John Brown House near the church until about …

* ~ * ~ *

     This page sponsored in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Lang by their children Mr. and Mrs. Charles Jordan and Miss Beulah Lang.

Pg 170

…1903, when a house was rented in Wilton. In 1920 a house was bought. Beginning in 1958, Peace Church shared a pastor with Walcott and the Walcott parsonage was used, so the Wilton house was rented out until it was sold in 1963. In the spring of 1861 the first Sunday school of Peace Church was organized with 71 members. In June 1903 the Women’s Missionary Society was organized with Mrs. Sarah Schwab as President. An organ was used from the spring of 1863 until 1901 when it was replaced by a piano. The first daily Vacation Bible School in Peace Church was held in June 1944.

     The work of the Church is to send forth workers who will follow the commission of Jesus when He said “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.” Laborers who have gone into the Lord’s harvest filed from Peace Evangelical Church are: Rev. j. H. Pippert, Rev. J. Wirth, Rev. Charles P. Lang, Rev. David Lang, George Brenner, Mrs. Elizabeth Brown Pippert, Mrs. Elsie Brown Herwig, Mrs. Ethel Lang Cataldo, Mrs. Fannie Hahn Russell, John Van Gent, Mrs. Ida Hahn Van Gent, Mrs. Betty Hahn Laymon and Mrs. Louise Brown Ferguson.

     In August 1945, Rev. C. M. Ferguson, then pastor of Peace Evangelical Church with some of the members started a Bible School in Walcott. For over 100 years there had not been a church in Walcott. The Bible School grew into the Walcott Calvary Church and in 1952 a beautiful stone church was built. Peace Church and Calvary Church shared ministers until June 1971 when Calvary United Methodist Church received a full-time minister.

     On February 8, 1966, Rev. and Mrs. C. M. Ferguson left their home state of Iowa to serve as missionaries in Swaziland, South Africa. Rev. Ferguson was a former pastor of Peace Church and his wife, the former Louise Brown, a member of Peace Church, had taught a Sunday School class there for many years. They returned to the home community in 1968.

     On November 16, 1946, significant church history was made when two denominations, the Evangelical and the United Brethern, united to become known as the Evangelical United Brethern Church. The merger became complete in 1951 and this church became Peace Evangelical United Brethern Church. In 1968 the Evangelical United Brethern Church and the Methodist Churches joined to form the United Methodist Church. So now the little country church has become Peace united Methodist Church. In 1971 it became a part of the Muscatine North United Methodist Parish. The other members are Sweetland United Methodist and Spangler United Methodist.

     Peace Church celebrated its 50th anniversary on September 2-3, 1910: its 75th on June 16, 1935; its 85th on October 20-21, 1945 and its centennial on October 9, 1960.

     In August, 1971, members of Peace United Methodist Church were dismayed to learn that plans for widening Iowa Highway 38 between Wilton and Muscatine would make it necessary for them to move their church building. The structure build by former Evangelicals in 1860 was moved 65 feet back from its original site and 25 feet from the new highway property line and a short distance south. A new basement provided classroom space for the church school which had grown as a result of the informal, friendly atmosphere which drew in persons…

Pg 171

…beyond the ties of neighborhood or family. The congregation met in homes of members each week for a period or 15 months while the widening and construction of Highway 38 was taking place.

     One of Wilton area’s oldest churches, Peace United Methodist Church has undergone innumerable changes with substantial building improvements. Continual redecoration and extensive remodeling have kept the building in good condition. Many memorials have been given to the church.

     When Cranston United Methodist Church, a rural church southwest of Muscatine, disbanded they gave Peace Church their stained glass windows and their historical bell. The windows have been built into the Peace structure. The bell, originally given to Cranston church by Mr. W. S. Hunter in 1904 as a memorial to Aristarchus Cone, a pioneer of Muscatine County, is mounted on a brick structure in front of Peace Church.

     As our labor of love continues, we find we are a rich congregation—not as the world would judge in terms of material wealth, but in a sense of spiritual possessions, for we have a King working in our midst. We are putting our future into god’s hands, praying that He will find us supple as clay, that He might mold us into something beautiful and lasting –and as we are fired with earnest zeal, that our inner glow might warm the surrounding community. May we remain an effective witness for Him.

* ~ * ~ *

     Remember when every motorist carried a tire patching kit and a tire pump in the car so he could make repairs on the road?

     This page sponsored in Memory of Frank Riggle by his wife, Mrs. Frank Riggle.