Church History

    Romans 5:12-14 teaches that we are guilty of the sin of Adam because "we were there" in Adam.  This may seem like a minor point of theology, but it is very important.  A case can be made from church history showing that in the late 18th century denial of this truth led directly to the liberalism of the early 19th century which in turn ended up denying both Christ and the Bible.  This happened because people of that time reasoned that if we are not really guilty of the sin of Adam then we are not really born sinners, which means we don't really need a savior, which means we don't need Jesus, which means we don't need the Bible, etc.  Entire denominations fell over this seemingly "minor" point.

   Words spoken by Rev. Rick Mathews , who gave the message in the morning service at Temple Baptist Church on August 18, 2002.

    For an exclusive chronological history that records events that happened from the year Temple Baptist Church was organized to present date, Click Here  

We start our history page in one of these dark times in this world where we live.

            Religious persecution and economic hardships came about in the early days in Europe and America that led to the influx of Swedish immigrants, the formation of the churches and things that make up the Baptist General Conference as we know it today and a final result of this History Page being written.  Click Here to read a brief introduction.

Creation of the Earth - (Undated) 

Noah Builds the Ark - (Undated)  
            The ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.  It was made primarily of Cyprus wood.  There was no sea trial and this type of water craft had never been built before.  It held 45,000 animals comprised of seven each of clean and two each of unclean animals.  Noah built the ark on faith and with God's instruction.  Noah and his son's left the details up to God, such as the collection of the animals and spent their  time with the construction of the ark. The rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.   The waters flooded the earth for one hundred and fifty days.  In the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible. The ark landed in the mountains of Ararat in Turkey near the USSR border.  It rested there almost 8 months before Noah, his family and the animals stepped onto dry land,  They spent an entire year in the ark.  We, like Noah must trust God to give us patience during those difficult time when we must wait.
            Many of us have trouble sticking to any project, whether or not it is directed by God.  It is interesting that the length of Noah's obedience was greater than the life span of people today.  The only comprehensible long-term project is our very lives.  But perhaps this is one great challenge Noah's life gives us - to live, in accordance with God's grace, an entire lifetime of obedience and gratitude.
            Noah lived a total of 900 years.     

3200 BC (circa)
            The Egyptian City of Thebes was inhabited.  The city was sacked by the Assyrians in 681 BC. (Nahum 3:8-10) and the Romans again in 29 BC.  It said that a Greek visitor in 20 BC came to the site reported only a few scattered villages.  The city is now known as Luxor.  The temples of Luxor, Karnack and the area of Valley of Queens & the Valley of the Kings, which includes the tombs of Tutankhamen and the sons of Ramses II, are among the most splendid in the world. These and other sites in the area has been the scene of much important archaeological work.  

2560 BC (circa)
            The Great Pyramid of Giza was built this year (circa).  It is also called the Pyramid of Khufu, and sometimes referred to as the Pyramid of Cheops.  It is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis border what is now El Giza, Egypt.  It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact.  It is believed the pyramid was built as a tomb for fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu.  Khufu founder of the 4th Dynasty around 2680 BC and ruled Egypt for 23 years.

2500 BC (circa)
            The Great Sphinx outside of Cairo was built around this year.  It is one of the world's largest and oldest statues, but basic facts about it, such as who was the model for the face, when it was built, and by whom are still debated.
            Egyptians discover papyrus and ink for writing and build the first libraries; iron objects manufactured in the ancient Near East.

2400 BC (circa)
            Egyptians import gold from other parts of Africa.  Egyptian domestic trade was done by barter, gold had no economic importance.  Egyptians believed that gold was a divine and indestructible metal associated with the sun.

2310 BC (circa)
             Semitic Chieftain, Sargon, conquers Sumer and Mesopotamia to become the first "worlds conqueror."

2300 BC (circa)
            Horses domesticated in Egypt; chickens domesticated in Babylon; bows and arrows used in wars.

2166 BC (circa)
            Abram was born.

2091 BC (circa)
            Abram Entered Canaan.

2066 BC (circa)
            Isaac was born.

2006 BC (circa)
            Jacob and Esau were born.

1915 BC (circa)
            Joseph was born.

1526 BC (circa)  
            Moses was born.

1500 BC (circa)
             Sundials were used in Egypt.  A Mexican Sun-Pyramid was built.

1446 BC (circa)
            The Exodus from Egypt.

1445 BC (circa)
            The Ten Commandants were given to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  Yom Kippur was first observed following the second time God gave Moses the tablets.

1406 BC (circa)
            Hebrews enter Canaan.

1358 BC (circa)
            Egyptian King Tutankhamen dies and is buried an immense treasure laden tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

1000 BC
            At the direction of God, the Bible recounts, Israelite King David built an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.                                         II Samuel 24:18

960 BC (circa)
            King Solomon, David's son, built the first temple on Mount Moriah.   Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple, was the temple in Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount also known as Mount Zion, before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BC.  During the kingdom of Judah, the temple was dedicated to Yahweh, and housed the Ark of the Covenant.

741 BC (circa)
            The prophet Isaiah was born.  He died in the year 681 BC (according to the footnotes in the NIV study Bible).

655 BC (circa) 
            The Prophet Jeremiah was born.  In the world's eyes, Jeremiah looked totally unsuccessful.  He had no money, family, or friends.  He prophesied the destruction of the nation, the capital city, and the temple, but the political and religious leaders would not accept or follow his advice.  No group of people liked him or listened to him.  Yet as we look back, we see that he successfully completed the work God gave him to do.  Success must never be measured by popularity, fame, or fortune, for these are temporal measures.  King Zedekiah, for example, lost everything by pursuing selfish goals.  God measures our success with the yardsticks of obedience, faithfulness, and righteousness.  If you are faithfully doing the work God gives you, you are successful in His eyes.  From the foot notes of the Application Life Study Bible in the Book of Jeremiah. NIV

605 BC
            The first wave of destruction of Jerusalem.  From the foot notes of the Application Life Study Bible in the Book of Jeremiah. NIV

597 BC
            The second wave of destruction of Jerusalem.  From the foot notes of the Application Life Study Bible in the Book of Jeremiah. NIV

593 BC 
            Ezekiel became a prophet.  He was born in 622 BC.  He was born into a priesthood lineage from the Kingdom of Judah.  At the age of 25, he was exiled into Babylon. He was among the thousands of young men deported from Judah to Babylon.  He was married and his wife died 9 years after the exile.  Ezekiel prophesied to those already exiled in Babylon.  Ezekiel's story is told in the book of Ezekiel and II Kings 24:10-17.

587 BC
            The Siege of Jerusalem.  
            The third wave of destruction of Jerusalem.  From the foot notes of the Application Life Study Bible in the Book of Jeremiah. NIV                           Back to 960BC

586 BC 
            Soon after the fall of Jerusalem, the book of Lamentations in five brief chapters, was written by the Prophet Jeremiah.  
            Lamentations gives us a portrait of the bitter suffering the people of Jerusalem experienced when sin caught up with them and God turned His back on them.  Every material goal they had lived for collapsed.  But although God turned away from them because of their sin, He did not abandon them - that was their great hope.  Despite of their sinful past, God would restore them if they returned to Him.  Hope is found only in the Lord.  Thus our grief should turn us toward Him, not away from Him. 
            From the foot notes of the Application Life Study Bible in the Book of Lamentations, Chapter 5. NIV 

571 BC (circa)
            The book of Ezekiel was written.  The book was written to announce God's judgment on Israel and to foretell the eventual salvation of god's people.

539 BC
            Cyrus, King of Persia, took the city of Babylon by surprise and brought the nation to it's knees.  The complete destruction of the city was accomplished later by other Persian kings.

520 BC
            August 29,  Haggai 1:13-15 NIV~ Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people, "I am with you," declares the Lord.  So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people.  The came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. 

516 BC (circa)
            The Jewish Second Temple was a important shrine which stood in Jerusalem between 516 BC and 70 AD.  It replaced the First Temple, which was destroyed in 586 BC when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon.  Both temples were centers of Jewish sacrificial worship, and are still important today in the politics and history of Judaism.

479 BC
            Esther became Queen of the Persian Kingdom.  She was married to the Persian king Ahasuerus.  The Persian Queen Esther (492-460 BC), born as a Jewish exile named Hadassed, eventually became the queen of Persia, which during her lifetime was the greatest empire in the known world.  She was married to King Ahasuerus after he divorced the former queen for disobedience.  Esther would intercede in behalf of the Jewish people of the kingdom and prevent their annihilation.  Read and listen to the book of Esther starting with Chapter One.

455 BC (circa)
            Nehemiah led the third group of exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem with expressed permission from King Artaxerxes of Persia to rebuild the embattled city walls.

134-104 BC
            About this time the Essenes lived in a settlement called Qumran, a mile inland from the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in Israel.  It is said by some scholars they translated the Bible as was written then to Hebrew.
            Fast forward to the year 1947; a shepherd boy stumbled on a cave near the settlement of Qumran in Israel and found in a cave some jars made of clay.  In one one of the clay jars he found a manuscript, which later was discovered to be the Book of Isaiah.  The manuscript can be viewed today in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem.  See 1947

19 BC (circa)
            Herod the Great rebuilt the second temple on The Temple Mount on Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem.  In doing so Herod doubled the size of the Temple Mount.

10 BC
            Herod the Great, appointed by Rome as King of Judaea. The grand limestone temple was dedicated by him about this year.  It was a renovation of the Second Temple built 500 years earlier when the Jews returned from Babylonian exile.  Jesus taught on the Temple Mount in the week before his death.

4BC (circa)
            Jesus Christ was born.  He was tried and sentenced to be crucified on a cross in the year 30 and was resurrected on the 3rd day.  He ascended into heaven 40 days after His crucifixion.
             Read a description of Jesus penned 600 years before He was born, written by the prophet Isaiah.
            "The life of our Lord Jesus Christ is of supreme importance to each believer.  He could not have died for our sins unless He had first left heaven and entered the human race through childbirth.  And His death would not have cleansed away our sins if He had not also been raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.
            Almost as important are His miracles, His teachings, and the example of His sinless life.  Everything we can know with certainty about His life is revealed in the first four books of the New Testament (the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which comprise about 46 % of the New Testament."
                                                                                                                                                  Quote by Mr. Mike Reynolds  6/03/2011

35 AD
             Paul was converted on the road to Damascus, where he intended to implement a similar persecution of Christians.  Paul the Christian, now himself the object of persecution, fled from Damascus to "Arabia." 

38 AD
            In about this year Paul went to Jerusalem, where he met Peter and the other apostles,  After only fifteen days he traveled on to his home in Tarsus.

43 AD
            We may assume that Paul proclaimed his message of Christ in his homeland, Cilicia.  Otherwise it would hardly have occurred to Barnabas, who was a leader of the flourishing Christian community at Antioch of the Orontes, to bring Paul the Christian zealot to Antioch in about this year.

44 AD 
            In this year, Barnabas took Paul to Jerusalem.  There they delivered the collection from the community at Antioch to the Christian community of Jerusalem, which was suffering persecution. The apostle James had only recently been executed by King Herod Agrippa. 

46-48 AD
            During this time the Apostle Paul set out on his first missionary journey.  It was the shortest, in time and distance, of the first three, but it was nevertheless a very significant development in the history of the new Christian church.  It established Paul as a leader in the spreading of The Word of God.    See Acts 13:1-14:28.   
            St. Paul departed from Syrian Antioch (modern Antakya) and journeyed to Turkey where he stopped at Attalia (modern Antalya), Perge (where he preached for the first time in Asia), Iconium (modern Konya), Lystra and Derbe (modern Kerti Huyuk), establishing churches in Galatia and witnessing to both Jews and Gentiles.  On his return he retraced his journey visiting these churches.

49 AD
            The apostle Paul wrote the Book of Galatians in Antioch, which was then in Syria.  The book was written to the Christians in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, South Galatia.  Click the link above and listen to Galatians on audio book.  

49-52 AD
            Paul's second missionary journey.  This was the most fruitful of Paul's missionary career, covering hundreds of miles and resulting in the planting of the gospel on European soil.  With Salias as his partner, Paul left Jerusalem and stopped at Syrian Antioch, then traveled overland for a brief stop at Tarsus, his hometown. Then they pushed on westward to visit and strengthen the young churches at Derbe and Lystra in Southern Galatia.  This is where Timothy joined him.  They also visited Iconium. They were prevented by the Holy Spirit from stopping in Asia, then proceeded to Antioch of Psidia and the city of Troas on the eastern shoreline of the Aegean Sea.  Here, through a vision, Paul was beckoned to enter the providence of Macedonian Greece (Thrace), the extreme southern tip of the European continent.  
            They set sail in Troas and landed at Neapolis, then went by land to Philippi. Here the Philippian jailer and others were converted.  Then moved on to Amphipolis, Thessalonica and Berea.  Then went on to Athens where he preached his famous sermon about the "Unknown God," on Mars Hill.  Then traveled on the Corinth.  Here Paul stayed about 1-1/2 year, supporting himself as a tentmaker with establishing a church.  Then they crossed the Aegean Sea to Ephesus, then made their way around the southern coast of Asia into the Mediterranean for the long trip back to Jerusalem.

50-51 AD
            The book of I Thessalonians was written by the apostle Paul while he was in Corinth to the Christians in Thessalonica during his second missionary journey. See Acts 13, 14. 

50-51 AD
            The book of II Thessalonians was written by the apostle Paul while he was in Corinth to the Christians in Thessalonica during his second missionary journey.  See Acts 15:36-18:22.

53-58 AD
            Paul's third missionary journey he departed again from Syrian Antioch for Tarsus to revisit the churches in Derbe, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch.  He then traveled to Laodicea and to Ephesus where he remained for two years ministering "to the Jews first but also the the Greeks."  From there he proceeded to Smyrna, (modern day Izmir) and Pergamum.  Afterwards he visited Troas again on the way to Greece.  He re-entered Turkey with stops at Assos, Miylene, Samos, Miletus and Patara before returning to Ceaserea and Jerusalem.  See Acts 18:23 - 21:16  

58 AD
            Paul was arrested in Jerusalem:  When Paul arrived in Jerusalem, zealous Jews incited a riot against him.  He was arrested by the Romans and remanded to the custody of the Procurator Felix in Caesarea,  Paul insisted on his right as a Roman citizen to be tried before an imperial court.  He was subsequently sent to Rome. 

61 AD
            The ship with the prisoner Paul sailed from Caesarea in autumn of the year 60.  A shipwreck, followed by severe storms, necessitated wintering on Malta.  It was not until the year 61 that Paul set foot on Italian soil.

61-62 AD
            The book of Philemon was written by Paul when he was a prisoner in Rome.  It is a private personal letter to a friend, Philemon, his family, and the church in his house -- all in Colossae and asks for mercy for Omesimus a runaway slave, who had become a Christian.

64 AD
            The Burning of Rome took place.

67 AD
            The Apostle Paul was martyred in Rome:  In Rome, Paul  was kept under house arrest for two years.  We do not know whether his case was ever heard before a court.  We are equally ignorant of the possibility of any further journeying by the Apostle.  The martyrdom of Paul is reported only by second-century sources.  As a Roman citizen, he may have been beheaded, perhaps in this year.   

69 AD 
            Polycarp was born.  He was a Church Father and Bishop of Smyrna, which is now called Izmir, located on the west coast of Turkey.  He was martyred by being burnt at the stake.  The fire didn't touch him so the executioner ordered him pierced with a sword.  This took place in the year 155.  See Fox's book of Martyrs, page 9. 

70 AD 
            The city of Jerusalem was destroyed.  6,000 Jews died on the Temple Mount as the Roman army crushed a revolt, torching the Temple and demolishing the complex..  Israel fell under Roman Rule.

73
           The siege of Masada by Roman soldiers led to a mass suicide of the 960 Jewish people who lived there.  Seven people were taken captive.

97
            Timothy was the celebrated disciple of St. Paul, and bishop of Ephesus, where he zealously governed the Church until AD 97.  At this period, as the pagans were about to celebrate a feast called Catagogion, Timothy, meeting the procession, severely reproved them for their ridiculous idolatry, which so exasperated the people that they fell upon him with their clubs, and beat him in so dreadful a manner that he died of the bruises two days later.  From "Fox's Book of Martyrs," the second persecution, under Domitian, AD 81.

100   
            The Odes of Solomon were written about this time, in or near Syria.  They were found in 1909 and believed to be the first Christian hymnal.  They were lovely hymns of praise composed by an anonymous Christian Poet.  They were translated and set to music.  Forty one of the Forty Two Odes exist today.  Number Seventeen is called "I Have Been Freed," which combines ancient and modern words.  Translated and set to music, we hear the authors heart of worship and share in the truths that transcend time and place.  This hymn of praise was sung by an ensemble at Temple Baptist Church on September 13, 2009.  See the bulletin.

354
            November 13, St. Augustine of Hippo was born this day in Algeria.  Latin Patristic (Study of early church fathers) theologian and scriptural "exegete" = critical interpretation of Scripture.   He was educated in North Africa.  He was the bishop of Hippo from about 390 until his death.  The theology he shaped dominated the West until the thirteenth century and greatly influenced the Reformation.  His predestination views formed the foundation for various mission theologians during those periods.  He died on August 28, 430 at the age of 76, was the bishop of Hippo for about 40 years.

413
            The Chora Church or as originally called the "Church of the Holy Saviour Outside the Walls."  It was called by this name since it was built outside the city now known as Istanbul in the 4th century as part of a monastery complex by Constantine the Great.  It later was enclosed with in the walls of Constantinople, by Emperor Theodosius II in this year.  It was a mosque for many years but today it is a museum (Kariye Musesi) and most of the frescos and mosaics are fully and beautifully restored.  

532
            Construction started on the Hagia Sophia in what is now known as Istanbul, Turkey.  From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as a cathedral of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was the cathedral of the Latin Empire.  The building was converted to a mosque from May 29, 1453 until 1934, when it was secularized.  It was opened as a museum on February 1, 1935.

542
            November 20, The Madaba Map was dedicated on this date in the church of St. George in Madaba, Jordan.  

565
            This year The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Israel/Palestine as it stands today was constructed.  The first basilica on the site was begun by Saint Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine I.  Under the supervision of Bishop Makorios of Jerusalem, construction started in 327  and was completed in 333.  That structure was burnt down in the Samaritan Revolt of 529.  The current basilica was rebuilt in its present form in this year by the Emperor Justinian I.  The Grotto of the Nativity, an underground cave located beneath the basilica, enshrines the site where Jesus is said to have been born.  The exact spot is marked beneath an altar by a 14-pointed silver star set into the marble floor and surrounded by silver lamps. 

570 
            The Prophet Muhammad was born in the Arabian city of Mecca sometime during this year.  He died on Monday, June 8, 632, in the city of Medina, which is in the country now known now as Saudi Arabia at the age of 63.  

610
            Islam holds that the Qur'an was revealed from Allah to Muhammad orally through the angel Jubril (Gabriel) over a period of approximately twenty-three years, beginning in this year, when Muhammad was forty and concluding in 632 AD, the year of his death.  The Qur'an is the central religious text of Islam, also sometimes transliterated as Quran, Koran, Our'ān, Coran or al-Qur'ān.  Muslims believe the Qur'an to be the verbal book of divine guidance and direction for mankind.  Muslims also consider the original Arabic verbal text to be the final revelation of God.

691
            The construction of the Dome of the Rock was completed on the Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem. When it was built, it was intended that the building serve as a shrine for pilgrims and not as a mosque for public worship, which is what it is used for today.  Non - Muslims are not permitted in the building today.

1328
            John Wycliffe was born sometime during this year.  He was an English theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformist and university teacher who was known as an earlier dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century.  Wycliffe was also an early advocate for translation of the Bible into the common tongue.  He completed his translation directly from the Vulgate into Vernacular English in the year 1382, now known as Wycliff's Bible.  It is probable that he personally translated the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and it is possible he translated the entire New Testament, while his associates translated the Old Testament.  Wycliff's Bible appears to have been completed by1834, with additional updated versions being done by Wycliffe's assistant John Purvey and other in 1388 and 1395.   He died on December 31, 1384.

1403
            Jan Hus  begins preaching Wycliffite ideas in Bohemia.
            The world's first quarantine station is built in Venice, Italy to quarantine against the Black Death.

1406
            Construction of the Forbidden City begins in Beijing during the Chinese Ming Dynasty.

1408
            The Island of Gotland passes under Danish rule.  Gotland is in located in the Baltic Sea 55.9 miles east of Sweden and Southeast of Stockholm.  It is a beautiful medieval place especially the walled capitol city of Visby. 

1410
            Jan Hus is excommunicated by the Archbishop of Prague. 

1412
            January 6, Joan of Arc, French soldier and saint was born.  She died on May 30, 1431.

1414
            November 16, The Council of Constance begins.

1416
            May 30, The Catholic Church burns Jerome of Prague as a heretic.

1417
            The use of street lighting is first recorded in London, when Sir Henry Barton, the mayor, orders lanterns with lights to be hung out on the winter evenings between Hallowtide and Candlemas.

1418
            The Council of Constance ends.

1431
            May 30, Nineteen-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake at Rouen, France.

1483
            November 10, Martin Luther was born in Eisleben, Germany.  He was a German monk, priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation.  He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money.  Luther taught that salvation is not earned by good deeds but received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin.  His theology challenged the authority of Pope of the Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge.  He died on February 18, 1546 at the age of 62.

1492
             October 12, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World; he sailed from Spain and landed in the Bahamas on San Salvador or Wattling's Island.  Read excerpts from his journal.
            William Tyndale was born sometime during this year.  He was a 16th-century Protestant reformer and scholar who, influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther, translated considerable parts of the Bible into the Early Modern English of his day.  Tyndale was strangled to death while tied at the stake, and then his dead body was burned.  His final words, spoken "at the stake with a fervent zeal, and a loud voice," were reported as "Lord! Open the King of England's eyes." He died on October 6, 1536.

1497
            June 24, John Cabot, sailing for England, discovered the North American continent.

1498
            Felix Mantz was born sometime during this year.  He was a co-founder of the original Swiss Brethren Anabaptist congregation in Zurich, Switzerland, and the first martyr of the Radical Reformation.  He died on January 5, 1527, being executed by drowning in Lake Zurich on the Limmat.  He was sentenced to death for teaching baptism by emersion.

1509
            July 10, John Calvin was born.  He was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation.  He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism.  He died on May 27, 1564.          

1513
            Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Florida. 
            Vascode Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean.

1517
             John Fox or Foxe was born in Boston.  He died on April 18, 1587.  He wrote a book called "Fox's Book of Martyrs."  See 1563

1524
            Giovanni da Verrazano explored America's northeast coast.  

1529
            February 4, Ludwig Heltzer, was beheaded at Kanstanz for holding Baptist views. (From the notes of H. Hallgren)

1530
            Grace O'Malley was Ireland's pirate queen.  Grace was born about this year in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland  She was the daughter of a chieftain, Owen O'Malley, and his wife Margaret.  She grew up inheriting her father's taste for the seafaring life and eventually took command of his fleet of galleys and their hard-bitten, all-male crews.  For fifty years she traded the clan's produce in Ireland, Scotland, and Spain, skillfully practiced the time-honored craft of piracy and plundering, and led rebellions against the invading English.

1558
            For more than 270 years --- from 1558 to 1829 --- Roman Catholics in England were not able to practice their faith openly so they had to find alternative ways to express their beliefs - underground.  The song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is one example of how they did it.

1563
            March 20, John Foxe' book, "Fox's Book of Martyrs" was published in English by John Day.  The book is a celebrated work of church history and martyr logy.  It contained about 1800 pages and was first known as Acts and Monuments.  John Fox (or Foxe) was born in Boston, in Lincolnshire, in 1517. 

1565
            September 8, The first permanent European settlement in the present U.S. was founded at St. Augustine, Florida.

1585
            The first English colony in America was settled on Roanoke Island, but it survived only ten months. Roanoke is an island off the coast of North Carolina.  It is part of Dare County

1587
            August 18, The first English child, Virginia Dare was born on the continent at the second Roanoke settlement--the "Lost Colony."

1595
            Pocahontas was born sometime this year.  She was noted for her association with the colonial settlement.  She was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia.  She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in the Tidewater region of Virginia.  In a well-known historical anecdote, she is said to have saved the life of an Indian captive, Englishman John Smith, in 1607 by placing her head upon his own when her father raised his war club to execute him.  Pocahontas was captured by the English during Anglo-Indian hostilities in 1613, and held for ransom.  During her captivity, she converted to Christianity and took the name Rebecca.  When the opportunity arose for her to return to her people, she chose to remain in with the English.  In April 1614, she married tobacco planter John Rolfe.  In January 1615, she bore him a son, Thomas Rolfe.  They traveled to England where on March 21, 1617 she died.  Lady Rebecca Rolfe was buried under the chancel of St. Georges Church in Gravesend on March 21, 1617.

1603
            December 21, Roger Williams was born in Cowley, Middlesex, England.  On February 5, 1631, Roger and Mary Williams arrived at Boston. He was an English theologian and leading American colonist, an early and courageous proponent of the separation of church and state, an advocate for fair dealings with Native Americans, founder of the city of Providence, Rhode Island, and co-founder of the colony of Rhode Island.  He was also one of the founders of Baptist church in America. He died on April 19, 1683, at the age of 79 in Providence.
 
1604
            January,   King James I of England convened the Hampton Court Conference where a new English version of the Bible was conceived in response to the perceived problems of the earlier translations as detected by the Puritans, a faction within the Church of England. 

1607
            May 13, Jamestown became the first permanent English settlement.

1609
            Henry Hudson sailed the Half Moon up the Hudson River looking for "The Northwest Passage."
            Construction started on the Blue Mosque in what is now known as Istanbul, Turkey.  The mosque is named Blue for the twenty thousand blue Iznik tiles adorning the walls of its interior.  Construction was completed in 1616.

1611
            April 11, Edward Wightman,  English Baptist was burned at the stake in Litchfield, England.
            The Authorized King James Version of the Bible was completed.  

1618
            The Thirty Years War started in Germany.  It lasted until 1648.  It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history.  

1619
            July 30, America's first legislative body, the Virginia House of Burgesses, convened in Jamestown, Virginia.
            The first black slaves in America, arrived on a Dutch ship in Jamestown.

1620
            September 6/16,  The Mayflower set sail from Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England.
            November 10/20,  Land was sighted from the Mayflower.  It was confirmed to be Cape Cod.
            November 11/21,  The Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact in Provincetown harbor.
            December 26, The Pilgrims who were on the Mayflower landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts.  During the first winter, 47% of them died.
            This year marks the start of the "Great Migration".  The term Great Migration usually refers to the migration in this period of English settlers, primarily Puritans to Massachusetts and the warm islands of the West Indies, especially the sugar rich island of Barbados, 1630-40.  They came in family groups, rather than as isolated individuals and were motivated chiefly by a quest for freedom to practice their Puritan religion.   

1621
            June 21, twenty-seven protestant leaders were executed in the Old Town Square in Prague by order of the Catholic Emperor Ferdinand.
            October,  The first recorded Thanksgiving celebration.

1623
            July, The Pilgrims met together to celebrate the first proclamation of Thanksgiving. 

1624
            The Dutch created the first European settlements when they settled in the States of Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and formed the Dutch colony of New Netherland, or Nieuw Nederlandt.  See Website  for detailed facts on those early days.

1626
            The Indians (Native American Lenape people) sell "Manhattes" Island to the Dutch for merchandise worth about $24.

1628
            November 28,  John Bunyan was born in Easton, near Bedford, England.  He was an English Christian writer and preacher who is famous for the writing "The Pilgrim's Progress."  Though he was a Reformed Baptist, he is remembered in the Church of England.  He died on August 31, 1688.

1629
           March,  The Massachusetts Bay Colony received its charter from King Charles of England superseding the land grant and establishing a legal basis for the English Colony at Massachusetts.

1632
            A King James Version of the Bible published in England became known as the "Wicked Bible."  The Wicked Bible, sometimes called the Adulterous Bible or The Sinner's Bible is a term referring to the Bible published in 1631 by Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, the royal printers in London, which was meant to be a reprint of the King James Bible.  The name is derived from the compositors' mistake: in the Ten Commandments of the word not in the sentence Thou shalt not commit adultery was omitted. 

1634
            Tulip bulbs were used as a form of currency in Holland. (snapple.com)
            The first decennial performance of the Oberammergau Passion Plays is held.

1635
            Phillip Spener was born in Alsace, France.  He was educated in Strasburg.  He completed his doctoral dissertation and was prepared to teach, but instead served as a pastor in Frankfurt.  He had completed his doctoral dissertation and was prepared to teach, but instead served as a pastor in Frankfurt.  the deadness and moral laxity of the congregation moved him to offer a specific program for change, spelled out in Pia Desideria, or "Pior Desires," first published in 1675,  This controversial writing marks the birth of Pietism as a renewal movement within Lutheranism and beyond it.  Phillip Spener died in 1705.

1636
            Roger Williams was an American Protestant theologian, and the first American proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state.  He founded Providence, Rhode Island,  to provide religious freedom to all.  He was born around 1603 and died sometime between January 28 and March 15, 1863.
            October 28, Harvard College, the colonies' first institution of higher education was founded on this date by the state of Massachusetts.

1639
            1st Baptist Church in America at Providence, Rhode Island was organized.  The meetinghouse of the nation's oldest Baptist congregation, founded by Roger Williams in 1638. The structure was dedicated in 1775 and designed by Joseph Brown. The church has a carved wood interior and a Waterford crystal chandelier. Built by ships' carpenters in 1775, it survived the gale of 1875 and the hurricane of 1938.  The church congregation met in a grove of trees or in people's homes until 1775 when the church was dedicated. 

1640
            The Whole Book of Psalmes, was the first book printed in the colonies.  It was a hymnal known as the Bay Psalm Book.  Only the words were printed because they assumed everybody new the music.

1644
            October 14,  William Penn was born in London, England.  He was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Indians.  Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed.  He died on July 30, 1718 at the age of 74.
            November 13, law adopted by Massachusetts Bay banishing all Baptists.
            The second Baptist Church in America at Newport, RI organized by John Clark.

1653
             John Bunyan was baptized at 25 years of age.

1654
            Read some condensed history of the Anabaptist.  This was the first year, as known, the word Baptist was used in English Literature.

1660
            December 1, The British Parliament passed the first Navigation Act of regulate colonial trade.  This particular Navigation Act added a twist to Oliver Cromwell's act; ship's crews had to be three-quarters English, and "enumerated" products not produced bh the mother country, such as tobacco, cotton, and sugar were to be shipped from the colonies onlyy to England or other English colonies.

1664
            September, New Amsterdam was captured by English and the name was changed to New York.  The English also captured the Dutch colonies of New Netherland.  Fort Orange was renamed Fort Albany and paved the way for the naming of the city of Albany.

1665
            June 7, The First Baptist Church of Boston was organized by two women and seven men based on their strong commitment as disciples of Jesus Christ and their determination to worship God with freedom of conscience.  the organized this church, the third church of any kind to be founded in Boston and the fifth Baptist church in all America.  The first pastor, Thomas Gould, and three others were baptized on that day, the other having been baptized in England.
    The church was formed in defiance of two laws, passed by the General Court:  (1) That all persons wishing to form churches must first obtain consent of the :magistrates and elders of the greater part of the churches within this jurisdiction,"  (2) That "if any person or persons within this jurisdiction shall condemn or opposed the baptizing of infants... such person or persons shall be subject to banishment."   

1673
             In this year Thomas Ken wrote a book entitled, "A Manual of Prayers,"  for the use of the scholars of Winchester College.  In one of the editions of this manual, Ken included three of his hymns that he wanted the students to sing each day as part of their devotion.  These hymns we called "Morning Hymn," Evening Hymn," and "Midnight Hymn."  Each of these hymns closed with the familiar four lines we now know as the Doxology.

1674
            July 17, Isaac Watts was born on this day.  He is recognized as the "Father of English Hymnody," as he was the first prolific and popular English hymn-writer, credited with some 750 hymns.    Many of his hymns remain in active use today and have been translated into many languages.  Three of the ones he wrote the words for are, "Joy to the World," "Jesus Shall Reign," and "Oh God, Our Help In Ages Past."  He died on November 25, 1748.

1676
            September 19, Nathaniel Bacon led rebellious Virginians against the Colony's royal government.  Bacon's death on October 26, from dysentery, led to the collapse of the rebellion.

1677
            William Penn framed the first charter separating church and state for the Quaker Colony of West Jersey.

1681
            February 28, King Charles II of England, granted to William Penn a proprietary charter for a colony and named it Pennsylvania to honor Penn's father.  Charles II granted a land charter to William Penn to repay a debt of €16,000 or around € 2,100,000 in 2008, adjusting for retail inflation) owed to William's father Admiral Penn.  This was one of the largest land grants to an individual in history.  It was called Pennsylvania, meaning "Penn's Woods", in honor of Admiral Penn.  William Penn, who had wanted his province to be named "Sylvania", was embarrassed at the change, fearing that people world think he had named it after himself, but King Charles would not rename the grant.  Penn established a government with two innovations that were much copied in the New World: the county commission and freedom of religious conviction.  

1684
            June 21, King Charles II revoked the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter.  1689

1685
            February 23, George Frideric Handel was born on this day.  He was a German-English Baroque composer who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concertos.  Handel was born in Germany in the same year as JS Bach and Domenico Scarlatti.  His works include Messiah, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks.  George Handel died on April 14, 1759.

1688
            August 31, John Bunyan died in London. He was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress.  He was a Reformed Baptist, in the Church of England.

1689
            April 18, Sir Edmund Andros, governor of the Dominion of New England, was deposed during England's "Glorious Revolution"; the Massachusetts Bay Colony regained its charter two years later.  1684

1690
            September 25, first newspaper printed in America, was sold in Boston.  It was a 71/4" X 111/2", four page journal with one blank page where you could write in your own news.  It was printed by Benjamin Harris.  The paper lasted only one issue before being suppressed.

1692
            February, The Salem witch hunts began.  Before they ended in May of 1693, 14 women and 6 men were executed; 150 were imprisoned.

1703
           June 28,  John Wesley older brother of Charles Wesley was born.  He was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian.  John is largely credited, along with his brother Charles, as founding the Methodist movement, which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield.  In contrast to George Whitefield's Calvinism, Wesley embraced the Arminian doctrines that were dominant in the 18th-century Church of England.  Methodism in both forms was a highly successful evangelical movement in the United Kingdom, which encouraged people to experience Jesus Christ personally.   He died March 2, 1791 at the age of 87, in London, England..

1704
            August 1-3,  An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar during the War of the Spanish Succession.

1707
            December 18, Charles Wesley was born on this day.  Mr. Wesley is chiefly remembered for the many hymns he wrote.  He founded Wesley Chapel in the village of Brayton, North Yorkshire, England.  His house, located near by, can still be visited today.  Some of the hymns he wrote words for are, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," and "Oh for a Thousand Tongues to Sing."  He died on March 29, 1788.
            "When I Survey the Wondrus Cross," was written by Issac Watts.  Mr. Watts wrote 696 English hymns during his lifetime.

1712
            June, The Carolina Colony was divided into the providences of North Carolina and South Carolina.

1714
            December 16,  George Whitefield was born.  He was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies.  He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally.  He became perhaps the best-known preacher in Britain and America in the 18th century, and because he traveled through all of the American colonies and drew great crowds and media coverage, he was one of the most widely recognized public figures in colonial America.  He died Whitefield died in the parsonage of Old South Presbyterian Church, Newburyport, Massachusetts, on September 30, 1770, and was buried, according to his wishes, in a crypt under the pulpit of this church.

1718
            David B. Brainerd was a missionary to the American Indians in New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania.  He was born in Connecticut, he died of tuberculosis an the age of twenty-nine in 1747.
            Ice cream recipes first appear in 18th-century England and America.  A recipe for ice cream was published in Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipts in London in this year.
            
1719
            Issac Watts wrote "Jesus Shall Reign".  Issac was born on July 17, 1674 and died on November 25, 1748 and is recognized as the Father of "English Hymnody", as he was the first prolific and popular English Hymn writer, credited with some 750 Hymns.  Many of his hymns remain in active use today and have been translated into many languages.
            Watts also wrote "Joy to the World" in this year.  He had written his first hymn in 1692 at the age of 18 as a protest against what he thought was the low quality of songs in Anglican hymnals.
           Though the triumphant words "Joy to the World" exemplify the Christmas feeling, this familiar text is actually a translation based on five verses from Psalm 98 in the Old Testament.

1723  
            The Old North Church in Boston was built.  A signal by Paul Revere from the lanterns hung in the belfry. "One if by land, two if by sea."

1725
            July 24, John Newton was born on this day.  John was an English Anglican clergyman and former slave-ship captain.  He sailed back to England in 1748, aboard the merchant ship Greyhound, which was carrying beeswax and dyer's wood, now referred to as camwood.  During this voyage, he experienced a spiritual conversion.  The ship encountered a severe storm off the coast of Donegal, Ireland and almost sank.  John  awoke in the middle of the night and finally called out to God as the ship filled with water.  After he called out, the cargo came out and stopped up the hole, and the ship was able to drift to safety.  It was this experience which he later marked as the beginnings of his conversion to evangelical Christianity.  As the ship sailed home, Newton began to read the Bible and other religious literature.  By the time he reached Britain, he had accepted the Lord as his personal savior. After he became a minister, hymn-writer, and later a prominent supporter of the abolition of slavery. He was the author of at least 289 hymns, including "Amazing Grace."   He died on December 21, 1807.

1731
            November 15, William Cowper was born on this day.  His last name is pronounced Cooper. He wrote among other hymns, "There is a Fountain Filled With Blood."  He died on April 25, 1800.

1732
            February 22, George Washington was born.  He became the first President of the United States.  He died on December 1, 1799.
            June 9, General James Edward Oglethorpe received a charter for the colony of Georgia.  As a social reformer in Britain, he hoped to resettle Britain's poor, especially those in debtors' prison, in the New World.

1735
            October 30,  John Adams the 2nd president of the United States was born in Braintree, Massachusetts.  He died on July 4, 1826 at the age of 90 in Quincy, Massachusetts.
            A New York City newspaper, New York Weekly Journal publisher John Peter Zenger was acquitted of seditious libel, a landmark decision for freedom of the press.  On Sunday, November 17, 1734 Zenger was arrested and charged with seditious libel.  After more than eight months in prison, Zenger went to trial defended by illustrious Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton.

1738
            December 26, Thomas Nelson Jr. was born on this day.    He was an American planter, soldier, and statesman from Yorktown, Virginia.  He represented Virginia in the Continental Congress and was its Governor in 1781.  He is regarded as one of the U.S. Founding Fathers since he signed the Declaration of Independence as a member of the Virginia delegation.  He died on January 4, 1789.

1741
             July 15, Vitus Bering and Aleksei Chirikov Expedition discovers the Aleutian Islands, Alaska.  They were the first explorers from Asia to land on North America.

1742  
            April 13, Handel's Messiah premiered in Dublin, Ireland.  Messiah is an English oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel, and is on of the most popular works in the Western choral literature.  The Messiah sing-along now common at Christmas often consist of only the first of the oratorio's three parts, with the Hallelujah Chorus (originally concluding the second part) replacing His Yoke is Easy in the first part.

1749
            May 19, King George II granted a charter to the Ohio Company.  The Ohio Company, formally known as the Ohio Company of Virginia, was a land speculation company organized for the colonization of the Ohio Country.  The activities of the company helped to provoke the outbreak of the French and Indian War.  

1750
            It was about this year that John Newton wrote "Amazing Grace."  Click here to read the history of  one of life's greatest hymns.
           The rapidly growing population of Britain's North American colonies now numbers one million, while approximately six million people live in England and Wales.

1752
             January 1, Betsy Ross of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was born on this day.  She has been widely credited with making the first American flag.  She died on January 30, 1836.  Read the Betsy Ross flag story.
            Katharina A. von Schlegel wrote the words to, "Be still My Soul."  See 1899

1753
            October 31, Virginia's lieutenant Governor Dinwiddle sent George Washington to the Ohio Territory to demand that the French leave the region.  Dinwiddle learned the French had built Fort Presque Isle near Lake Erie and Fort Le Boeuf, which he saw as threatening Virginia's interests in the Ohio Country.

1754
            July 3, The Battle of Fort Necessity, or the Battle of the Great Meadows took place on this date in what is now the mountaintop hamlet of Farmington in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.  The engagement was one of the first battles of the French and Indian War and George Washington's only military surrender.  The battle, along with the May 28 Battle of Jumonville Glen, contributed to a series of military escalations that resulted in the global Seven Years' War.   

1760
            October, George III becomes King of England.

1761
            William Carey was born August 17.  He was an English Baptist missionary and a Particular Baptist minister, known as the 'father of modern missions."  He was one of the founders of the Baptist Missionary Society.  As a missionary in the Danish colony, Serampore, India, he translated the Bible into Bengali, Sanskrit, and numerous other languages and dialects.  He lived a quiet life until his death in 1834, revising his Bengali Bible, preaching, and teaching students.  The couch on which he died, on June 9, is now housed at Regent's Park College, the Baptist hall of University of Oxford.

1763
            February 10, The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years War. A defeated France gives up most of her claims to The North American Territory.  Spain ceded Florida to Britain for the return of Cuba.

1764
            April, The British Parliament passes the Sugar Act to raise money through import taxes on the colonies.

1765
            March 22, The Stamp Act, which imposed heavy taxes on the Colonies, was passed by Parliament. 
            May, Virginia's House of Burgesses adopts Patrick Henry's Stamp Act Resolves, protesting taxation with out representation.
           August, Angry mobs force stamp distributors to resign.  Many colonists agree not to import British goods.

1766
            March, Pressured by British merchants, Parliament repeals the unsuccessful Stamp Act but restates its supreme authority over the colonies by passing the Declaratory Act.

1767
            June, The Townshend Acts impose duties on glass, tea, and other items imported into the colonies.  The colonists again refuse to buy British goods.

1770
            March 5, British soldiers fire without orders, into an angry Boston crowd, killing five people.  This incident soon becomes known as the Boston Massacre.  It was also known as the Boston riot and was the incident, which helped spark the rebellion in some of the British American colonies, which culminated in the American Revolutionary War.  A heavy British military presence in Boston led to a tense situation that boiled over into incitement of brawls between soldiers and civilians and eventually led to troops discharging their muskets after being attacked by a rioting crowd.
            April, Parliament repeals all the duties except that on tea.

1772
            William Cowper wrote the words to "There is a Fountain".  To hear the melody and read the words.

1773
            January 1, John Newton preaches on 1 Chronicles 17:16, 17 and uses the words he wrote to "Amazing Grace" to accompany the sermon.  See more about Amazing Grace.
           May, The Tea Act gives the British East India Company a monopoly on sales.  In protest, patriots force ships to return to England without unloading their cargoes of tea.
           December 16,  American patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded the vessels of the East Indian Company docked in the Boston harbor and dumped all the tea that was on the three ships into the ocean.  They emptied 342 chests of tea which was valued at more than 10,000 pounds.  This even became known as the "Boston Tea Party."
          
1774
            March, Parliament closes Boston harbor to all trade as punishment for the Boston Tea Party.
            May, Virginia's House of Burgesses supports Boston by observing a day of fasting and prayer.  Virginia calls for a unified colonial response through a boycott of British goods.
            September 5, Delegates from all the Colonies except Georgia convened for the First Continental Congress.
            October, The First Continental Congress declares that Americans are entitled to the rights of "life, liberty, and property."
            November, Yorktown residents stage a southern tea party, boarding the ship Virginia and dumping chests of tea into the York River.

1775
            February, Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.  British General Gage is authorized to use force to control the colony.
            April 19, The battle of Lexington signaled the start of the American Revolution.  British solders tried to capture a munitions storage at Concord, Massachusetts and were met with resistance from embattled farmers (Minutemen) and fired the shot heard around the world.  This was the start of the Revolutionary War.  Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, seizes Virginia's store of gunpowder at Williamsburg, Virginia.
            May 10, The Second Continental Congress began; George Washington is appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental forces.
            June, The British win the battle of Bunker and Breed's Hills in Boston, but they suffer heavy losses.  
            November, Virginia's royal governor issues an emancipation proclamation freeing "all indentured Servants (and) Negroes" who will fight alongside the British.
             John Asplund, the first Swedish Baptist in America.

1776
            January, Thomas Paine's influential pamphlet, "Common Sense" was published.
            May 4, Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britian.
            May, France secretly begins sending money and supplies to the colonies.
            May, Betsy Ross reports that she sewed the first American flag.
            June 7, Acting under the instruction of the Virginia Convention, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution in the Second Continental Congress proposing independence for the colonies.  The Lee Resolution contained three parts: a declaration of independence, a call to form foreign alliances, and "a plan for confederation."
            June 10, Congress appointed a committee of five to draft a statement of independence for the colonies,  The committee included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, with the actual writing delegated to Jefferson.
            Jefferson drafted the statement between June 11 and 28.  As a scholar well-versed in the ideas and ideals of the French and English Enlightenments, Jefferson found his greatest inspiration in the language and arguments of English philosopher John Locke, who had justified England's "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 on the basis of man's "natural rights."
            July 2, The momentous decision of the Continental Congress to sever its ties to Great Britain came on this date, which is the date that John Adams thought should be celebrated by future generations.   The Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, and edited by his colleagues in the Continental Congress, was adopted 2 days later.
            July 4, The Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress.  The second sentence of the document reads as follows:  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. This sentence is called one of the best-known sentences in the English Language.
            July 5, Under the supervision to the Jefferson committee, the approved Declaration was printed.
            July 8, The Liberty Bell rings in Philadelphia, for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. 
            July 19, Congress ordered that the Declaration be engrossed on parchment with a new title, "the unanimous declaration of the thirteen united states of America," and "that the same, when engrossed, be sighed by every member of Congress."  Engrossing is the process of copying an official document in a large hand.  The engrosser of the Declaration was probably Timothy Matlock, an assistant to Charles Thomson, secretary to the Congress.
            August 2, John Hancock, the President of the Congress signed the engrossed copy with a bold signature.  The other delegates, following custom, signed beginning at the right with signatures arranged by states from northernmost New Hampshire to southernmost Georgia.
       Although all delegates were not present on August 2, fifty-six delegates eventually sighed the document.  Some delegates, including Robert R. Livingston of New York, a member of the drafting committee, never signed the Declaration.

1777
            January, Washington defeats the British at Princeton, New Jersey.  The Continental army goes into winter encampment at Morristown.
            September, The British occupy Philadelphia after winning the Battle of Brandywine Creek.
            October, Washington is defeated at the Battle of Germantown outside Philadelphia.
            October, British general John Burgoyne surrenders his army of 6,000 men at Saratoga, New York, a turning point in the war.
            November 1, The Official First National Thanksgiving Proclamation was delivered by the Continental Congress.
            November 15, Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation.
            Winter, Washington's army winters at Valley Forge.  Severe weather and food shortages cause terrible hardships for the army.
            The constitution of Vermont (then an independent state) was the first to end slavery and enact universal male suffrage.

1778
            February 6,  France pledges financial and military support to the United States in their  independence, in effect declaring war on Great Britain.
            March 17, Captain James Cook arrives on the shore of present-day Oregon while exploring the west coast of America in search of the Northwest Passage.  He records some of the first encounters with Native Americans in this area.  He also touched the coast at Nootka Sound and confirmed the English claim to Oregon.
            June,  The Battle of Monmouth Court House in New Jersey ends in a draw, but the British leave the battlefield.

1779
            Fall,  An American expedition burns the villages of Britain's Iroquois allies in New York.  With the war at a stalemate in the north, the British refocus their efforts to the south.
             September-October,  A joint French-American attempt to retake Savannah, Georgia, fails with heavy losses.  The French are unwilling to continue the siege leaving many Americans discouraged with the French alliance.
            The publication of Olney Hymns establishes John Newton's reputation as a hymn-writer.

1780
            May, Americans surrender Charleston, South Carolina, the worst defeat of the war.  This defeat begins a period of bloody conflict in the Carolinas between the loyalists and the patriots.
            July, Robert Raikes, organized the first Sunday School in Gloucester, England.  

1781
            January,  Continental infantry and militia defeat the British infantry and cavalry at Cowpens, South Carolina.
           March,  At Guilford Court House, North Carolina, General Nathanael Greene loses to British general Charles Cornwallis.  Cornwallis, however, leaves the Carolinas to join British forces already in Virginia.
           August 2,  General Cornwallis makes Yorktown his base operations and fortifies the town.  Most of the townspeople flee before the British arrive.
           August 19,  Washington's and Rochambeau's combined American French army leaves New York for Virginia.  A French fleet heads for the Chesapeake Bay.
           September 5,  In a battle off the Virginia Capes, a French fleet drives off a British force and takes control of the Chesapeake Bay.
           September 26,  The Allied army arrives in Williamsburg, Virginia.
           October 6,  Allied troops dig the first siege line (redoubts, a defended position or a protective barrier, and gun batteries connected by trenches) at Yorktown.  Three days later, they begin bombarding the British defenses.
           October 14,  British redoubts nine and ten are captured during night attacks.  The allies move closer to Yorktown.
           October 16-17,  With supplies running low, General Cornwallis fails to escape across the York River for one reason, because of a storm.  Cornwallis requests a cease-fire to discuss terms for surrender.
           October 19,  General Cornwallis surrenders his army of over 7,000 men to the allied American-French forces.

1782
            March,  Lord North resigns as prime minister of Britain.  Great Britain begins peace negotiations with the United States.   

1783
            September 3,  The final treaties between the United States and Great Britain, ending hostilities, are signed in Paris.  In other words the treaty marked the end of the Revolutionary War.
            December 4,  The last British troops leave the United States.  The withdrawal of the last British troops from Staten Island and Long Island.  This officially ended the British occupation of the Atlantic coast of the United States.

1784
            February 28,  John Wesley charters the Methodist Church. 
            There is a growing sense of crisis in the New Nation.  The British refuse to give up their forts on the Western Frontier.  The weak confederation government is unable to pay the national debt, regulate trade, resolve conflicts between states, or end an economic recession.

1785
           July 6, The dollar is unanimously chosen as the money unit for the United States.  This is the first time a nation has adopted a decimal coinage system. 

1786
            September,  Representatives from five states discuss the regulation of commerce.  A new convention is scheduled to meet in 1787, to revise the Articles of Confederation.

1786-1787
            Winter,  Desperate Massachusetts farmers, suffering economically, resist the seizure of their property for debts or taxes.  A sense of crisis and fear of anarchy makes the reform of the confederation government urgent.

1787
            February 21, After debate, the Congress of the Confederation endorsed the plan to revise the Articles of the confederation.
            May 25,  The Federal Constitutional Convention convenes with George Washington presiding.  The the intent or purpose of this convention was to create a new government rather than fix the existing one.  One of the accomplishments was to draft a new constitution. 
            July,  The "Great Compromise," providing for equal state representation in the Senate and representation based on population in the lower house, breaks a deadlock between small and large states.  The Confederation Congress adopts the Northwest Ordinance providing for the settlement of western lands and the admission of new states into the union.
            September 17, The final draft of  The United States Constitution was adopted  by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  It was then sent to the states for approval.  The United States Constitution is the shortest and oldest written constitution still in use by any nation in the world today.
            December 7,  Delaware is the first state to ratify the new constitution.

1788
            June,  New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, putting it into effect.  Within a month, the two remaining key states of Virginia and New York also ratify the Constitution.

1789
            April 30, The first Congress met.  George Washington becomes the first president of the United States.  This link will give a biography of each United States President.  He was sworn in at Federal Hall in New York City.
            May 3, John Berry Meachum was born into slavery on this day.  He was best known for his important roles as a spiritual leader, educator and abolitionist,  best known for his important roles as a spiritual leader, educator and abolitionist.  He was the son of a Baptist preacher, was apprenticed as a youth to a white carpenter under whose tutelage learned the craft of cabinetmaking and coopering (barrel maker).  Of unusual talent and with a complying master, he eventually saved enough money to purchase his freedom and that of his father The son of a Baptist preacher, he was apprenticed as a youth to a white carpenter under whose tutelage he learned the craft of cabinetmaking and coopering. Of unusual talent and with a complying master, Meachum eventually saved enough money to purchase his freedom and that of his father.   John died on February 19, 1854, while speaking to his congregation during church services.  See 1847 for more about Pastor Meachum's life.
           September,  Congress sends twelve constitutional amendments protecting individual rights to the states for approval.  
           The Supreme Court of the United States was implemented; under the Judiciary Act of 1789, the Court was to be composed of six members--though the number of justices has been nine for almost all of its history, this number is set by Congress, not the Constitution.  The court convened for the first time on February 2, 1790.

1790
            January 9, U.S. President George Washington give the first State of the Union Address.
            March 1, The first United States census is authorized.  
            May 29, Rhode Island ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the last of the 13 original states to do so.
             July 16, The Residence Act provided for a new permanent capital to be located on the Potomac River, the exact area to be selected by President Washington.  See 1799
            July 31, Inventor Samuel Hopkins becomes the first to be issued a U.S. patent for an improved method of making potash.
            August 2, The first United States census showed a population of 3,929,625.
            August 4, Alexander Hamilton founded the Revenue Cutter Service, later known as the U.S. Coast Guard.

1791
            February 25, The First Bank of the United States is a National Historic Landmark located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania within Independence National Historical Park.  The First Bank was a bank chartered by  the United States Congress. The charter was for 20 years. The Bank was created to handle the financial needs and requirements of the central government of the newly formed United States, which had previously been thirteen individual colonies with their own banks, currencies, and financial institutions and policies.
            December 15, Congress added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution.  Virginia is the eleventh state to ratify the Bill of Rights, (the first ten amendments to the Constitution).

1792
            May 11, Captain Robert Gray entered the Columbia River aboard the American sailing ship, Columbia Rediviva , thus naming this important waterway.
            August 29, Charles Finney was born in Warren, Connecticut.  Finney was the youngest of fifteen children, the son of farmers, Finney never attended college, but his six-foot three-inch stature, piercing eyes, musical skill and leadership abilities gained him recognition in his community.  He studied as an apprentice to become a lawyer, but after a dramatic conversion experience and baptism in Adams, New York, he gave up law to preach the gospel.  At age 29 under George Washington Gale, Finney studied to become a licensed minister in the Presbyterian Church, though he had many misgivings about the fundamental doctrines taught in the denomination.  He died on August 16, 1875 at the age of 82.
            October 29, Mount Hood in Oregon is named after the British naval officer Samuel Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton, who spots the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.
            Read a written historical account from the notes of Harley Hallgren, of what occurred in and around this year.
            Construction started on the building of the White House in Washington D.C.  It was completed in 1800.
                       
1793
            February 25, George Washington holds the first Cabinet meeting as President of the United States.
            March 4, George Washington is sworn in for his second term as President of the United States.
            March 12, Sam Houston was born on this date in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent.  Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of the Republic of Texas, US Senator for Texas after it joined the United States, and finally as governor of the state.  He was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier.  He died on July 26, 1863 at the age of 70 in Huntsville, Texas.
            April 1, The Unsen volcano erupts in Japan and causes an earthquake; about 53,00 are killed.
            September 18, President George Washington sets the foundation stone for the U.S.Capitol building in Washington DC .

1794
            Anti-Federalist formed the Democratic-Republican Party, forerunner of the present Democratic Party.  The Democratic-Republican Party was dissolved in 1825.

1796
            September 17, George Washington issued his Farewell Address.  The letter was originally prepared in 1792 with the help of James Madison, as Washington prepared to retire following a single term in office.  However, he set aside the letter and ran for a second term after his Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, and his Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, convinced him that the growing divisions between the newly formed Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties, along with the current state of foreign affairs, would tear the country apart in the absence of his leadership.

1797
            January 31, Franz Schubert was born on this date in Vienna, Austria.  He wrote 145 songs or pieces, was an alcoholic and had no real success in his life.  He was a torch bearer at Beethoven's funeral.  He died November 19,1828 in Vienna.
            March 4, John Adams was inaugurated in Philadelphia as the second U.S. President.  

1798
            June-July, The repressive Alien and Sedition Acts became law.

1799
            September 9, The new federal city of Washington, on the Potomac River, was named in honor of George Washington. The district was named the Territory of Columbia, Columbia being a poetic name for the United States in use at that time.  See 1790 

1800
            November 17, Congress held its first session in Washington. 

1801
            March 4, Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated as third President of the United States in Washington, D.C.
            May 1, The U.S. waged war against Tripoli to end acts of piracy. 

1803
            December 20, America and France agree to the Louisiana Purchase that extends the United States territory west to the "Continental Divide."
            Read a written historical account from the notes of Harley Hallgren, of what occurred in and around this year.

1804
            May 14, The Lewis and Clark Expedition began to explore the West.  They departed from Camp Dubois, near present day Hartford, Illinois, and began their historic journey.
            July 11, Vice President Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in Weehawken Heights, New Jersey.

1805
            September 27, George Muëller was born on this day.  He was a Christian evangelist and Directory of Orphanages in Bristol, England, cared for 10,024 orphans in his life.  He was well-known for providing an education to the children under his care, to the point where he was accused of raising the poor above their natural station in life.  He began running from God at an early age but then came to realize finally at the age of 20, the burden of his sins overcame him and he trusted Christ as Saviour. "At last I saw Christ as my Saviour.  I believed in Him and gave myself to Him.  The burden rolled from off me, and a great love for Christ filled my soul.  That was more than fifty years ago.  I loved Jesus Christ then, but I loved Him more the year after, and more the year after that, and more every year since."  (George Mueller)    He died on March 10, 1898 at he age of 92.
            November 7, Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific coast. "Great joy in camp we are in view of the Ocian, (in the morning when fog cleared off just below last village (first on leaving this village)...) this great Pacific octean which we been so long anxious to See, and the roreing or noise made by the waves brakeing on the rockey Shores (as I suppose) may be heard disti(n)ctly."

1806
            April 3, Captain William Clark set foot in the Oregon Territory, the first white man to do so.  

1807
            March 3,  Congress ended the importation of slaves after January 1, 1808.  President Thomas Jefferson signed the bill into law on this date.

1809
            February 12, Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky.  He died on April 15, 1865.
            July 28, Frederick Olaus Nilsson, most often mentioned as first of the men who founded the Baptist General Conference was born this day on the west Coast of Sweden.

1810
            Joseph Meek was born in this year.  He was an early pioneer to the Oregon country.  He was born in Virginia and eventually traveled on the Oregon Trail to get to his land where he settled.  He died June 20, 1875 at his home on the land where he called home on the Tualatin Plains just north of Hillsboro, Oregon.  He was 65.
            October 27, The U.S. annexed and occupied West Florida.
            Rev. Francis Springer was born n Roxbury, Franklin County, Pennsylvania.  He was a chaplain during the civil war.  He was orphaned at the age of five and was raised by a Lutheran minister until age 14 when he was indentured to a carriage and ornamental painter for four years.  He entered Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg immediately following his indenture. He supported himself with occasional teaching jobs, as well as worked as a painter, and continued his studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, also in Gettysburg.  The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Maryland licensed him to preach on October 18, 1836.  He served as the Post Chaplain at Fort Smith and also as Provost Marshal and Commissary Officer from September 1, 1863 through 1867.  Springer's real passion was to aid the widows, orphans and freed slaves displaced by the civil war.  On September 19, 1841, eight Springfield, Illinois citizens met at the home of Rev. Springer and incorporated the First Lutheran Church in Springfield.  He died in October 1892.  

1811
            November 7, Troops under the territorial governor of Indiana, William Henry Harrison, defeated a Shawnee Indian force at the Battle of Tippecanoe.
            Read a written historical account from the notes of Harley Hallgren of what occurred during this year.

1812
            May 26, Gustaf Palmquist was born in Smaland, Sweden.  He was one of the founders of the Baptist General Conference.
            June 18, War with Britain, an action unpopular with many, was declared to protect U.S. shipping and end impressment of seamen. (the act of compelling men into a navy by force and without notice.)

1813
            January 24, The Philharmonic Society was founded in London.  Later was known as the Royal Philharmonic Society.
            March 4, James Madison is sworn in as President of the United States, for his second term.
            March 19, David Livingstone was born on this day.  He was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and explorer in Africa.  His meeting with H.M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"  He died on May 1, 1973.

1814
            August 23,24, British troops capture Washington D.C. and deliberately burned its public buildings.  Among the buildings they set fire to was the US Capitol.  This has been the only time since the Revolutionary War that a foreign power has captured and occupied the United States capital.
            September 14, Sir Francis Scott Key wrote the words to what we now know as the "Start Spangled Banner."  Originally called "Defense of Fort McHenry."
            December 24, The Treaty of Ghent, signed in Belgium on Christmas Eve, formally ended the War of 1812. 

1815
            January, Andrew Jackson, unaware that peace had been signed, defeated the British at New Orleans.
            April 10, Mt. Tambora on the island of Sumbawa, in an Indonesian archipelago, erupted, pushing enough dust in the atmosphere to cause the northern hemisphere to be with out a summer that year. (The weather channel desktop)
                Three Barbary States were forced to stop their piracy against U.S. ships by Captain Stephen Decatur.  The Marines Hymn contains a reference to this conflict in the opening line: "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli..."

1816
            October 6, William B. Bradbury was born on this day.  He died on January 7, 1868.  Mr. Bradbury was a musician who composed the tune to "Jesus Loves Me," and many other popular hymns.

1817
            July 17, Anders Wiberg was born on this day in Wi Village, Stora Tuna parish, Sweden.  For a time as a student in Uppsala University he became an atheist, but was converted and continued a true believer.  He went on to be one of the founders of the Baptist General Conference.

1819
            February 22, Spain ceded claim to East Florida in return for $5 million.
            March 29, Edwin Drake, the first person to drill for crude oil was born.
            The southern boundary of the United States was fixed at 42 degrees latitude by treaty with Spain.  The territory to the south including California and Nevada were Spanish and Mexican possessions until 1846 and 1848 respectively.
               Thomas Cotterill, a Sheffield vicar, was charged by a church court for using a hymn-book in their services. In the Church of England, hymn-singing was long considered to be illegal.  This test-case led to hymn-singing being more or less legally accepted in the Church of England.
            The Missouri Compromise--prohibiting slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36° 30´ parallel--was approved.  The bill took 2 years to complete.    

1820
            March 15, Maine was admitted to the Union as a free state.  It was the 23rd state to be admitted.
            March 24, Frances Jane Crosby, the daughter of John and Mercy Crosby, was born in Southeast, Putnam County, New York.  To this day, the vast majority of American hymnals contain her work.  Some of her best known songs include "Blessed Assurance," "Jesus is Tenderly Calling You Home," "Praise Him, Praise Him," and "To God Be the Glory."   To this day, the vast majority of American hymnals contain her work.  Because some publishers were hesitant to have so many hymns by one person in their hymnals, Crosby used nearly 100 different pseudonyms during her career.  She died on February 12, 1915.
            May 20, Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy.  She was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician,  She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean war, where she tended to wounded soldiers.  She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night.  An Anglican, Nightingale believed that God has called her to be a nurse.  She laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishing, in 1860, of her nursing school at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, the first secular nursing school in the world, now a part of King's College London.  The Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses was named in her honor, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday. She died on August 13, 1910 at the age of 90, in London.
            The First Mariners Church in New York City, New York was dedicated.  It is now known at the Mariners Temple Baptist Church.  It is located at 3 Henry Street, New York City, NY 10038.  see 1835
            Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Harriet Ross) was born sometime this year.  She was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War.  After escaping from slavery, into which she was born, she made thirteen missions to rescue more than 70 slaves using the network of the antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad.  She later helped John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era struggled for women's suffrage.  She was a devout Christian.  Surrounded by friends and family members, Harriet Tubman died of pneumonia on March 10, 1913.  She was 93 years old when she died.

1821
             August 10, Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slave state.  It was the 24th state to be admitted. 

1823
            December 2, President James Monroe proclaimed his doctrine, warning European nations against further colonization on the Americas of interfering with the internal affairs of American nations.
            December 31, William Orcutt Cushing was born on this date.  Cushing's parents were Unitarians and his early training was along these lines. When he retired from the ministry he began writing hymns. He completed over 300 in his lifetime. Some of the more noted were, "Hiding in Thee," "When He Cometh," and "Under His Wings." Died on October 19, 1902.

1824
            February 9, John Quincy Adams was named President by the House of Representatives; no candidate had won an Electoral College majority.  He was the sixth president of the United States.
            Dr. John McLoughlin, of the Hudson Bay Company arrived in Oregon and moved headquarters to Fort Vancouver, which is located on the north bank of the Columbia River. See the following Web Sites:
McLoughlin House 
            History of John McLoughlin.  From 1824 to 1844 Dr. McLoughlin was virtually king of the Oregon Country from California to Alaska and from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. 
            James Monroe was President of the United States-March 4, 1817-March 3, 1825.  He was the fifth President.
            Russia renounced all interests to the land on the North American Continent below 54 degrees and 40 minutes north latitude.

1825
            March 4, John Quincy Adams succeeds James Monroe as President of the United States.
            October 26, The Erie Canal opens, providing passage from Albany, New York to Buffalo and Lake Erie.
            The first roller skates are invented.
            Aluminum is discovered.

1826
            Reginald Heber wrote the words to the hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy," while he was Vicar of Hodnet, Scropshire, England.  The music was written for the hymn by John B. Dykes, in 1861.

1827
            The United States and Britain agreed to continue indefinitely the joint occupancy of the Oregon Country.  Rivalry between the Hudson Bay Company traders, trappers and British on hand and the increasing number of American traders, trappers and settlers was apparent.  See 1846 

1828
            October 20, Horatio Spafford was born.  In 1871, Horatio Spafford, a prosperous lawyer and devout Presbyterian church elder and his wife, Anna, were living comfortably with their four young daughters in Chicago.  In that year the great fire broke out and devastated the entire city.  Two years later the family decided to vacation with friends in Europe.  At the last moment Horatio was detained by business, and Anna and the girls went on ahead, sailing on the ocean line S.S. Ville de Havre.  On November 21, 1873, the liner was rammed amid ship by a British vessel and sank with in minutes.  Anna was picked up unconscious on a floating spar, the four children had drowned.  After receiving Anna's telegram, Horatio immediately lift Chicago to bring his wife home.  An the Atlantic crossing, the captain of his ship called Horatio to his cabin to tell him that they were passing over the spot where his four daughters had perished.  He wrote to Rachel, his wife's half-sister, "On Thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down, in mid-ocean, the waters three miles deep.  But I do not think of our dear one there.  They are safe, folded, the dear lambs."  Horatio wrote this hymn, " It Is Well With My Soul," still sung today, as he passed over their watery grave.  He died on October 16, 1888, of malaria, and was buried in Mourn Zion Cemetery, Jerusalem.
            The Democratic Party was formed.

1829
             January 17, Catherine Booth was born.  She was born Catherine Mumford in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England, the daughter of John Mumford and Sarah Milward.  Her father was a coach builder.  From an early age Catherine was a serious and sensitive girl.  She had a strong Christian upbringing, even going so far as to read her Bible through eight times before the age of 12.  She married William Booth on June 16, 1855.  She met William, a Methodist minister, when he came to preach at her church in 1852.  They were married on 16 June 1855.  Even on their honeymoon, William was asked to speak at meetings.  Together they accepted this challenge.  The Booths had eight children: Bramwell, Ballington, Kate, Emma, Herbert, Marie, Evangeline, Lucy, and were dedicated to giving then a firm Christian knowledge.  Two of their children, Bramwell and Evangeline, later became Generals of the Salvation Army.  On October 4, 1890 she died in her husband's arms with her family around her.  See William Booth below in this year.
            March 4, Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United States.  He served until March 3, 1837.  He was the seventh President and the first one to run as a Democratic.
            April 10, William Booth was born.  He was a British Methodist preacher who founded The Salvation Army and became its first General (1878-1912).  The Christian movement with a quasi-military structure and government founded in 1865 has spread from London, England to many parts of the world and is known for being one of the largest distributors of humanitarian aid.   He died on August 20, 1912 at the age of 82.

1830
            May 28, The United States Congress passes the Indian Removal Act.
            June 18, Elizabeth Clephane was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.  She was the author of the hymns "Beneath the Cross of Jesus" and "The Ninety and Nine".  It has been said that Elizabeth wrote "The Ninety and Nine" for her brother, George Clephane, who had "returned to the flock" only a short time before his death.  As the story goes, he fell from his horse and struck his head upon a rock and was killed instantly. She died on February 19, 1869 in Scotland.
            July 18, Uruguay adopts its first Constitution.  

1831
            March 12, Clement Studebaker, American automobile pioneer was born today.
            July 4, James Monroe, 5th President of the United States died today.
            August 7, American Baptist minister William Miller preaches his first sermon on the Second Advent of Christ in Dresden, New York, launching the Advent Movement in the United States.  The largest church within the movement today is the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

1832
            February 3, William H. Doane was born on this date. From his early boyhood Dr. Doane was interested in music. In 1875, Denison University conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of music. Some of the many songs he composed were "Safe in the Arms of Jesus," "Rescue the Perishing," and "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior."  Dr. Doane died in 1915.
            May 21, James Hudson Taylor was born on this day.  He was a British Protestant Christian Protestant Christian missionary to China, and founder of the China Inland Mission.  Taylor spent 51 years in China.  He died on June 3, 1905.
            December 10, President Jackson declared South Carolina's nullification of U.S. tariff laws an act of rebellion.  This ordinance declared, by the power of the State itself, that the federal Tariff of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and therefore null and void within the sovereign boundaries of South Carolina. 
            Read a written historical account from the notes of  Harley Hallgren; a story called, "The Indians want the Book." 

1833
            March 4, Andrew Jackson is sworn in for his second term as President of the United States.  He was the seventh President of the United States.
            October 21, Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor of dynamite, creator of the Novel Prize was born today.
            The State of Massachusetts disestablished the church, completing the legal separation of church and state in the U.S.

1834
            March 24, John Wesley Powell was born.  He was the son of a protestant minister and is famous for leading the 1869 Powell Geographic Expedition, a three-month river trip down the Green and Colorado rivers that included the first known passage through the Grand Canyon.  He did this feat with only one arm, which he lost in the Civil War at the battle of Shiloh.  He died on September 23, 1902 at the age of 68.
            June 19, Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England. Click here to see Spurgeon Website
            The Rev. Jason Lee and his nephew the Rev. Daniel Lee were sent out by the Methodists.  Work was commenced near Salem and on October 6, the first Protestant Mission west of the Rockies was opened.
           Read a written historical account from the notes of Harley Hallgren relating to Jason Lee and the first mission.
           

1835
            Fredrick O. Nilsson converted at a revival meeting at the Mariners Church in New York City.  The first church in the United States devoted exclusively to sailors and their families was the First Mariners Church in New York City, dedicated in 1820.

1836
            March 2, The State of Texas declared its independence from Mexico.
            March 6, The Alamo was captured by the Mexican Army.  Originally The Alamo was established in 1718 as a Franciscan mission and is known for its important role in the Texas Revolution, when some 200 Texans and Tejanos made a final stand against Mexican soldiers in this year.
            April 21, The Texians defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, ending the revolution.  
            July 9, Plillip P. Bliss, Christian hymn writer was born on this day.  One of the songs he wrote was, "It is Well With My Soul."  Mr. Bliss wrote at least 64 Gospel Hymns.  He died on December 29, 1976.
            October 22, Sam Houston became first President of the new republic of Texas.
            December 14, Frances Ridley Havergal was born on this day.  She was an English religious poet and hymn writer.  "Thy Life for Me" is one of her best known hymns.  She also wrote hymn melodies, religious tracts, and works for children.  She wrote over 80 songs which are listed in the web page link above, a couple more familiar are, "I Gave My Life For Thee," "Like a River Glorious," and "Take My Life and Let It Be."  She died on June 3, 1879 at the age of 42.

1837
           February 5, Dwight L Moody, the most noted evangelist of his age was born in Northfield, Massachusetts.  He was one of nine children   The family attended a Unitarian church.  In April 1855, Moody was then converted to evangelical Christianity when his teacher, Edward Kimball talked to him about how much God loved him.  His conversion sparked the start of his career as an evangelist. .He died on December 22, 1899.
            December 14, Frances Ridley Havergal was born on this day. She was an English religious poet and hymn writer.  Thy Life for Me is on of her best known hymns.  She also wrote hymn melodies, religious tracts, and works for children.  She wrote other familiar hymns such as "Who is on the Lord's Side?," "Like a River Glorious," " Take my Life and Let It Be," and 80 or more other hymns.  She died on June 3, 1879.
            Panic of 1837  was built on a speculative fever.  The bubble burst on May 10, 1837 in New York City, when every bank stopped payment in specie (gold and silver coinage).  The Panic was followed by a five-year depression, with the failure of banks and record high unemployment levels.

1838
            February 27, William James Kirkpatrick was born on this day.
            May 26, The Cherokee Indian Tribe is forcibly relocated in the Trail of Tears.
            July 9, Philip Bliss was born.  He was an American composer, conductor, bass-baritone writer of hymns and a Gospel singer.  He wrote many well-known hymns including Almost Persuaded, Hallelujah, What a Saviour!, Let the Lower Lights Be Burning, Wonderful Words of Life, and the tune for Horatio Spafford's  It Is Well with My Soul.  On December 29, 1876 the Pacific Express train which Bliss and his wife were traveling in approached Ashtabula, Ohio.  While the train was in the process of crossing a trestle bridge, which collapsed, all carriages fell into the ravine below.  Bliss escaped the carriage but the carriages caught fire and Bliss returned to try and extricate his wife.  Ho trace of either body was discovered.  Ninety-two of the 160 passengers are believed to have died in what became known as the Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster.
            September 1, William Clark, American explorer dies.  He and Meriwether Lewis, leader of the Lewis and Clark Exposition and walked the Oregon Trail, which runs from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon.

1839
            February 20, John Alexis Edgren was born this day in Alfsbacka, Varmland, Sweden.  He was the eldest child in a family of five brothers and three sisters.  At the age of 20 he passed the stiff requirements for the captain's rank in the navigation school of Stockholm.  He later became one of the founders of Bethel Theological Seminary.  See 1908
            May 7, Elisha Hoffman was born on this day.  He was an American minister and Gospel song writer who wrote the words and music for such familiar hymns as "Are you Washed in the Blood?," "I Must Tell Jesus," "Is Your all on the Altar?," and "What a Wonderful Saviour!"  Mr. Hoffman died on November 25, 1929.
            October 31, 1st Baptist Church in Denmark was organized with 11 members.

1840
            March 9, The Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad is completed from Wilmington, North Carolina to Weldon, North Carolina. At 161.5 miles, it is the world's longest railroad.
            May 1, Britain issues the Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp.
            May 21, New Zealand is declared a British colony.
            July 4, James McGranahan was born on this date.  Mr. McGranahan was a talented and cultured American musician who was gifted with a rare tenor voice and studied for years with eminent teachers who urged him to train for a career in opera. His friend Philip P.Bliss was encouraging him to instead of putting his talents to opera was praying James would become focused on Gospel music.  One week before Phillip Bliss and his wife died, December 19, 1876, in the terrible train crash he wrote James a letter and said, "Strike into the grain to reap for the Master....to reap for the Master....to reap for the Master!"  Not long after that James decided to yield his life, his talents, his all to the service of his Savior.  He would "strike into the grain to reap for the Master." He died on July 9, 1907.
            August 28, Ira D. Sankey was born on this day.  He was known as "The Sweet Singer of Methodism," was an American gospel singer and composer, associated with evangelist Dwight L. Moody.  Sankey composed about 1,200 songs in his life-time.  Some of his more familiar ones are, "Faith Is The Victory," "How Can I Keep From Singing," and "The Model Church."  He died on August 13, 1908.
            November 7,  In the U.S. presidential election; William Henry Harrison defeats Martin Van Buren.  He was the ninth President of the United States and the first president to die in office.  He was in office 32 days before he died.  He had a nickname of  "Tippecanoe."
            November 14, Claude Monet, the French painter was born on this day.  He was the founder of French Impressionist painting.  He died on December 5, 1926.
            November 22, Daniel Webster Whittle was born on this day.  He was an American poet, writer, evangelist, and Bible teacher.  He was an American poet, hymn writer, evangelist, and Bible teacher.  Influenced by Dwight L. Moody, he entered full time evangelism and worked with P.P. bliss and James McGranahan. He wrote the words to many well recognized hymns such as, "I know Whom I Have Believed," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "And Can It Be that I Should Gain."  He died on March 4, 1901.
            December 12,  Charlotte Digges "Lottie" Moon was born on this day.  She was a Southern Baptist missionary to china with the Foreign Mission Board who spent nearly forty years (1873-1912) living and working in China.  As a teacher and evangelist she laid a foundation for traditionally solid support for missions among Baptists in America.   Throughout her missionary career, Moon faced plagues, famine, revolution, and war.  The First Sino-Japanese War in 1894, the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, and the Chinese nationalist uprising, (which overthrew the Qing Dynasty in 1911) all profoundly affected mission work.  Famine and disease took their toll, as well.  When Moon returned from her second furlough in 1904, she was deeply struck by the suffering of the people who were literally starving to death all around her.  She pleaded for more money and more resources, but the mission board was heavily in debt and could send nothing.  Mission salaries were voluntarily cut.  Unknown to her fellow missionaries, Moon shared her personal finances and food with anyone in need around her, severely affecting both her physical and mental health.  In 1912, she weighed 50 pounds.  Alarmed, fellow missionaries arranged for her to be sent back home to the United States with a missionary companion.  However, Moon died on route, at the age of 72, on December 24, 1912, in the harbor of Kobe, Japan.  Her body was cremated and remains returned to her family in Crewe, Virginia, for burial.

1841
            April 4, President William Henry Harrison dies in office of pneumonia.            
            April 6, John Tyler was President of the United States,  he served until March 3, 1845.  He was the tenth elected President.
            November 4, Benjamin Franklin Goodrich was born.  In 1869, Mr. Goodrich purchased the Hudson River Rubber company, a small business in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. The following year, Goodrich accepted an offer of $13,600 from the citizens of Akron, Ohio, to relocate his business there.  The company became one of the largest tire and rubber manufactures in the world, helped in part by the 1986 merger with Uniroyal.  The product line was sold to Michelin in 1988.

1842
            March 30, Anesthesia is used for the first time in an operation in Danielsville, Georgia, (Dr. Crawford Long performed the operation using ether).
            Willamette University in Salem, Oregon was founded.

1843
            Tradition has it that a Tom Johnson, who had left the British Navy and taken American citizenship, was the only settler on the Willamette below the Falls (Oregon City), at this time.  
            In the summer of this year, A. L. Lovejoy and Tom Overton, in passing from Vancouver to Oregon City, appraised the favorable location here for a settlement and a city.  Acting at once, they roughly staked out a claim running from somewhere near the present line of West Burnside, south to about the present Jefferson Street.  This was the year when a group of settlers of the Oregon Country, principally from the upper part of the Willamette Valley, organized a provisional government for the people in these regions.
            Read a written historical account from the notes of Harley Hallgren about The Oregon Trail.
            Read a written historical account from the notes of Harley Hallgren about Champoeg. 

1844
            May 25, The first Baptist Church in the Oregon Country was organized at West Union in the home of Elder, David T. Lennox, by "a few of us who have been thrown together in the wilds of the west."  They met there until the dedication of their new church building December 25, 1853
            June 6, The Young Men's Christian Association was founded in London, England.  
           F. W. Pettygrove took over the interest of Overton, and with Lovejoy, had the first log cabin built near the foot of the present Washington Street.  The town was on the way.  What to name it?  Lovejoy from Massachusetts, wanted Boston; Pettygrove, a Maine man, liked Portland.  They flipped a copper coin--luck was with Pettygrove.
           Read a written historical account from the notes of Harley Hallgren about the city of  Portland around this point in time.
           Read a written historical account from the notes of Harley Hallgren about the city of  Corvallis around this point in time.
           Read a written historical account from the notes of Harley Hallgren about the city of  Salem around this point in time.

1845
            March 4, James Polk was elected President of the United States.  He served until 1849.  He was the eleventh elected President.
            October 10,  Timothy Richard was born.  He was a Welsh Baptist missionary to China. He was born in Camarthenshire in south Wales, the son of Timothy and Eleanor Richard, a devout Baptist farming family.  Timothy started out as a teacher but was inspired to become a missionary and left teaching to enter Haverfordwest Theological College in 1865.  There he dedicated himself to China.  Richard applied to a newly formed China Inland Mission, but Hudson Taylor considered that he woild be of better service to the denominational Baptist mission.  In 1869, the Baptist Missionary Society accepted Richard's application, and assigned him to Yantai, Shandong Province in mainland China.  He died on April 17, 1919 at the age of 74, in London.

1846
            February 26, George C. Stebbins was born on this day.  Around the year 1869, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, and became music director at the First Baptist Church in Chicago.  It was in Chicago that he met the leaders in the Gospel music field, such as George Root, Philip Bliss, and Ira Sankey.  He wrote the music to "Take Time to be Holy," "Jesus, I Come," and "Throw Out The Life Line."  He died on October 6, 1945.
            June 15, For a time war seemed inevitable over land possession between the United States and Britain, but a treaty was arranged fixing the northern boundary of the United States, at least over the Oregon Country,  at 49 degrees North Latitude.  Back to 1827
           August 10, The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. was established.  Click here to view the Smithsonian web site.
           October 16, Anesthetics was introduced in the medical profession.

1847
            April 8,  F. B. Meyer was born in London.  Frederick Brotherton Meyer attended Brighton College and graduated from the University of London in 1869.  He studied theology at Regent's Park College.  He was a Baptist pastor and evangelist in England involved in ministry and inner city mission work on both side of the Atlantic.  He was author of numerous religious books and articles, many of which remain in print today.  He died on March 29, 1929.  A few days before his death, Meyer wrote the following words to a friend:  "I have just heard, to my great surprise, that I have but a few days to live.  It may be that before this reaches you, I shall have entered the palace.  Don't trouble to write.  We shall meet in the morning."  Another quote by Mr. Meyer:  "We make a mistake in trying always to clear ourselves.  We should be wiser to go straight on, humbly doing the next thing, and leaving God to vindicate us."
            May 7, The American Medical Association was formed.
            November 8, Rev Anders Wiberg resigned as priest in the State Church of Sweden.
            The Presbyterians sent Dr. Marcus Whitman and the Rev. Samuel Parker who established their mission station near the site of Walla Walla.  It was here that Dr. Whitman and others were massacred by Indians in this year.
            The First Baptist Church of Oregon City was organized.
            Missouri outlawed African-American schools inside the state's borders.  John Berry Meachum, a black Baptist, conducted Sunday school on a steamboat in the Mississippi River near St. Louis.  For nearly 20 years, Black children learned to read on Meachum's "Steamboat Sunday School."  
Return to 1789

1848
            August 14, Congress passed a bill admitting Oregon as a territory.
            September 21, first New Testament baptismal service in Sweden (of definite record) at Vallersvik near Gothenburg--5 were baptized.
            December 2, Mary Slessor was born.  She was a Scottish missionary to Nigeria.  Her determined work and strong personality allowed her to be trusted and accepted by the locals, spreading Christianity and promoting women's rights.  She died on January 13, 1915.
            There were six Baptist Churches in Oregon and the Willamette Baptist Association was formed.
            The California gold rush draws men from Portland, and nearly depopulates the village.
            A Methodist Episcopal church is organized.
            Read a written historical account from the notes of Harley Hallgren, having to do with the Oregon Territory in 1848.  

1849
            March 3, Oregon was proclaimed a territory, which included the present State of Washington and more land to the east.    
            March 4, David Rice Atchison was President of the United States for one day.  He was the only man in history to have done this.  March 4th was on a Sunday, the day Zachary Taylor was to take the oath for President.  Mr. Taylor felt convicted of his religious beliefs and said he would not officially do the ceremony and take office until the next day, Monday.  David Atchison was President of the Senate at the time so he assumed the Presidency for that day.       
            May 6, Fredrick O. Nilsson ordained to the Gospel ministry in Hamburg, Germany.  John Oncken, Kobner and Schauffler officiated.  Return to 1835 
            Portland gets its first Post Office.
            It is interesting to note that the governorship of Oregon Territory, at this time was offered by The President at that time, to Abraham Lincoln.  by Harley Hallgren.  The President in that year was James Polk whose term ran out on March 4th and Zachary Taylor who was elected our 12th President, March 4th, and died one year later on July 9, 1850.

1850
            March 5, Daniel B. Towner was born on this day.  He was a composer who held a Doctorate of music , and used his abilities to develop the music to several Christian hymns which are still popular today.  A couple of the hymns he composed the music for were,  "At Calvary," "Trust and Obey."  He died on October 3, 1919.
            December 4,--The first issue of the Oregonian Newspaper was published. 
            The first steps toward the organization of a Baptist church in Portland were taken.  For more information Click Here.
            Henry Wemme was born during this year from what information can be found. He was a wealthy businessman in Portland and was an active business investor during the pioneering era of automobiles and aviation.  He owned the first automobile in the city, which was a Locomobile Steamer.  He died in 1914.

1851
            January 14, the Oregon territorial house of representatives passed Portland's charter.
            February 8, Portland, Oregon officially became a city. 
            April 7, Hugh O'Bryant became Portland's first elected mayor.
            April 15, Josiah Failing with his sons, Henry and John Failing arrived in Portland.  They were the first Baptist family to settle in the little town.  They built a store building, twenty feet front and fifty feet deep on the S. W. corner of Front and Oak St. and opened a general merchandise store as soon as the goods arrived from the East.  Read and account of Josiah Failing and his observations of Portland.
           November 14, The American edition of the book Moby Dick was published by Harper & Brothers, New York.
            December 13, Edwin O. Excell was born on this date.  He was a prominent American Publisher, composer, song leader, and singer of music for church, Sunday school and evangelistic meetings during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was known as a leading American hymnbook publisher,  arrangement of "Amazing Grace," "Count Your Blessings," and I'll be a Sunbeam."  He died on June 10, 1921.
           Portland had a population of 300 to 400 people.
           An Act of Congress extended US Mail service to Oregon. 

1852
            June, Gustaf Palmquist was baptized at Galesburg, Illinois.
            July 23, Rev. Anders Wiberg was baptized by F. O. Nilsson near Copenhagen, Denmark on his first journey to America. 
            August 3, this day marked the beginning of what would grow to be our Baptist General Conference.
           To read some small part of history of the Baptist General Conference, click here.
            August 13, Gustaf Palmquist baptized two men and one woman in the Mississippi River at Rock Island, Illinois, and led to the formation of the first Swedish Baptist Church in America.  It was a small beginning, to be sure.  During the next 100 years, Swedish Baptist believers reached out to their fellow immigrants across the United States.  Men and women committed their lives to Christ and were baptized.
            September 26, 1st Swedish Baptist Church in America was organized at Rock Island, Illinois, with six members.  Four years and five days after the 1st Swedish Baptist church in Sweden.  Gustaf Palmquist conducted the business session.

1853
             July 14, a post office opened at Wapato, Oregon
            August 18, Belle of Oregon City was the first iron vessel built in Oregon for the Washington Territory.  First steam vessel to have machinery built in Oregon.  The Belle was dismantled in 1869 and the engines went to a sawmill.
            December 25,  The present building of the West Union Baptist Church was dedicated.  It is the oldest Protestant church building, still standing, west of the Rocky Mountains.  30 X 40 feet in size with rafters of cedar poles,  the joists of fir poles and the sills of hand-hewn fir logs.  An annual memorial meeting is held in this other wise unused building, because of its historic significance.  (Since the writing of these minutes, church service is held on a regular basis as well as a Sunday School.)  The floor is made of wood planking with straight back wood pews.  The ends of the pews are equipped with doors.  The church building  is still today in the same condition as when it was built.  There is a pump organ that is used for music.  The church has a fresh coat of white paint.  The windows are covered with shutters that are usually closed except when added lighting is needed.   was dedicated.  Click Here to see photos of West Union Baptist Church taken, October, 2001.  Return to 1844  
             The government established a post office at Tualatin, a station one mile south of Forest Grove.

1854
            Oldest Swedish Baptist Church building in the world was erected at New Sweden, Iowa.

1855
            May 6, At 10:30 am, a church organization in Portland, was formed, with ten members.  Rev. W. F. Boyakin was chosen pastor, and Josiah Failing, deacon.  This was the beginning of the First Baptist Church in Downtown Portland, today located at 909 SW 11th.  Their first service was held in the newly completed County Court room in the Robinson building on the corner of Front and Salmon Streets.   Rev. Hezekiah Johnson preached the dedication sermon.

1856
            January 26, Eric Sandell was born on this day.  He became a teacher and acting dean of Bethel Seminary after John Edgren resigned due to failing health.  Eric Sandell died on February 12, 1918.
            June 20-25, the first conference of Swedish Baptists anywhere in the world was organized at Rock Island, Illinois.
            Elizabeth Prentiss wrote the hymn, "More Love to Thee."
            Grover Cleveland was president of the United States.
            Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes the first Sherlock Holms mystery.
            N.W. Goodwin invents celluloid film.

1857
            June 1, The voters in the then Oregon Territory approved the resolution and elected delegates to a constitution.  The vote was 7,209 in favor of holding a convention to 1,616 against the proposal. 
            August, the first Constitutional Convention of Oregon was held.
            September 18, The Oregon Constitution was created.
            November 9, The Oregon Constitution was ratified.

1858
            Twelve charter members organized the First Baptist Church in Amity, Oregon. The church building was built in 1870.  The Amity Church is a member of the Columbia Baptist Conference.
           
1859
            February 14, Oregon became the 33rd state in the Union.
            August 16, Carl Gustav Boberg was a Swedish poet, writer, and elected official, best known for writing the Swedish language poem of "O Store Gud" from which the English language hymn "How Great Thou Art" is derived.  He died on January 17, 1940.

1860
            March 31, Rodney "Gipsy" Smith was born on this day.  He was a British evangelist who conducted evangelistic campaigns in the United States and Great Britain for over 70 years. 
            December, The Oregonian started publishing newspapers in Portland.
            The first attempt to maintain a Baptist church in Portland did not prosper and only three members remained.  With the hope of reviving the church, the Willamette Association appealed to the American Baptist Home Mission Society to place a missionary in the field.  In response to this request Dr. Samuel Cornelius, was sent to labor in Portland,  He arrived in June and in August 31st, the First Baptist Church of Portland was reorganized with 12 members and regular services were conducted in a rented hall on First Street.  Dr. Cornelius was elected pastor and Josiah Failing and S.W. Williams were chosen deacons.  Click here to read a detailed account.
            The population of Portland was now 2,917.
            A mass exodus of immigrants occurred from Sweden. 
            The words to the hymn "Jesus Loves Me" were written in this year by Anna B. Warner.  The music was composed by William B. Bradbury in 1862.  The stanzas 2 & 3, were composed by David R. McGuire 1929-1971. "One of the most profound hymns ever written". -- Rev. Rick Mathews on 7-8-2004.

1861
            April 12-13, The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter, near Charleston, South Carolina, that started the American Civil War.   See the year 1865. View a Web Site showing a Civil War Time line.
            March 4, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States.  
            A church building The First Baptist Church (American Baptist) was started on the corner of Fourth and Alder.
           The music to the hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy," was written by John B. Dykes.  The words were written in 1826 by Reginald Heber.

1862
            January, the First Baptist Church on the corner of Fourth and Alder was dedicated as a partial completion.  The basement was finished so that it could be occupied for religious services.  Dr. Samuel Cornelius continued as pastor.  (Return to 1876).
            November 19, William Ashley "Billy" Sunday was born on this day.  He was an American athlete who, after being a popular outfielder in baseball's National League (He played his debut on May 22, 1883 for the Chicago White Stockings and played his last game on October 4, 1890 for the Philadelphia Phillies) and during the 1880's, became the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century.  He died on November 6, 1935.
           Although not strictly a hymn, the strains of "Taps" are probably the most recognizable twenty-four notes in our country's musical history. The eloquent and haunting melody has drifted over the graves of soldiers since it was played by a lone bugler on a Civil War battlefield in 1862. Click here to hear the music and read the history of the most noted twenty-four notes.
            December 13, The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought on this date.  It marked another unsuccessful attempt by the Union army to move south against the Confederate capital at Richmond.  This failure stands out among other such setbacks because of the overwhelming nature of the Federal defeat.

1863
            February 17, International Committee for the Red Cross met for the first time.  It was originally know as the International Committee for Relief to The Wounded.
            June 4, See a report from the Mariners' church in New York City.
            July 1-3, American Civil War:  Union forces under General George G. Mede turn back a Confederate invasion by General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg, the largest battle of the war (28,000 Confederate casualties, 23,000 Union).  
            October brought about the International Committee for the Red Cross conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
            October 3, President Lincoln proclaims a national Thanksgiving (United States) day to be celebrated the final Thursday in November.
            November 19, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address (Listen to a modern recording of The Gettysburg address on the Gettysburg Address Website) at the military cemetery, Gettysburg National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  
            November 19, - A quote on this day from President Abraham Lincoln, "Now we are engaged in a great Civil War testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."
            December,  Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury decided on a new motto to engrave on U.S. coins.  Lincoln's involvement in this decision is unclear, but it appears quite probable that the expression, "In God We Trust," was in keeping with Lincoln's spiritual beliefs at the time.

1864
            January 5,  George Washington Carver was born.  He was an American scientist, botanist, educator,  and inventor.  He died on January 5, 1943 in Diamond, Missouri.
            September, Dr. Cornelius left the First Baptist Church.  At this time the their were 49 members.
            October 20, The first annual Thanksgiving Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln.
            Olaus Okerson, missionary in Minnesota and the Northwest came to America.
            See a page out of Harley Hallgren's note book telling about information he found having to do with Tax lots of the First Baptist Church.
            The Portland Water Company, a privately owned business, installed Portland's first fire hydrant in 1864.

1865
            April 14, President Lincoln assassinated at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C.   Click Here to view a Web Site on President Lincoln.  Vice President Andrew Johnson assumed the Presidency.
            April 15, President Lincoln died.
            Portland's population was numbered at 1,800.  The skyline was changing, with stores and homes lining Front Street.
            Civil War Ends.  See the year 1861.

1866
            May 5, The first observance of Memorial Day was at Waterloo, New York.  It was then known as Decoration day.  See 1868
            July 29, Thomas O. Chisohm was born.  He wrote over 1200 hymns such as: "Living For Jesus," "O, to be Like Thee" and "Great is Thy Faithfulness."  Over 800 of his hymns were published.  He died on February 29, 1960 in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
            August 19, First Baptist Church of Chicago, now known as Addison Street Baptist Church was organized.  They are located at 1242 West Addison Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60613, Phone # 773-935-2357

1867
            March 30, The United States and Russia signed a treaty for the purchase of Alaska for the sum of $7,200,000.  William H Seward, then Secretary of State negotiated the purchase.
            December 16, Amy Wilson Carmichael was born in the small village of Millisle in Northern Ireland to devout Presbyterians, David and Catherine Carmichael and was the oldest of seven children.  She served as a missionary in India, who opened an orphanage and founded a mission in Dohnavur.  She served in India for 55/56 years with out a furlough and wrote many books about the missionary work there.  She died in India in 1951 on January 18th. 
            December 22, Captain R. E. Jeanson of Gothenburg, Sweden,  converted to the Baptist faith and settled in New York in 1865.  Under his leadership, fifteen men and nineteen women met to found the "First Swedish Baptist Church of New York" on this Sunday.   Initially worshipping at the Mariner's Church near the docks in lower Manhattan, the congregation moved uptown to the Colgate Chapel on 20th Street in 1884.  Then, as the congregation grew and prospered, it bought its own building on 27th Street in 1893.  As time went by, the need for a Swedish language church decreased.  Swedish immigration slowed, many Swedes migrated westward, and descendents of the original settlers learned English as their native tongue.  Thus, in 1942 the worship language of the church was changed from Swedish to English, and the official church name was changed to "Trinity Baptist Church."  Trinity Baptist is a part of the Baptist General Conference now known as Converge Worldwide. 

1868
            April, construction work was begun on two railroads, to the south.  One on the east side, The Central Pacific and one on the west side, the Union Pacific.
            May 30, Decoration Day or now known as Memorial Day was observed for the first time on this date.  The date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle.  The tombs of fallen Union soldiers were decorated in remembrance.  See 1866.
            The words to "Beneath the Cross of Jesus" were written by Elizabeth C. Clephane in Scotland.  She was known as "The Sunbeam."

1869
            May 10, Officials of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met in the State of Utah to celebrate the completion of the first intercontinental railroad or the First Transcontinental Railroad.  The completion of this rail line shortened the trip from coast to coast from six months to six days!  View the Golden Spike Web Site.
             Fanny Crosby wrote the hymn, "Near the Cross".
            Construction started on the Pioneer Court house.  It was built in stages between 1869 and 1903 and was first occupied in 1875.
            The Penny Farthing or High Wheel Bicycle was introduced by Frenchman Eugene Meyer and is now regarded as the father of the High Bicycle by the International Cycling History Conference in place of James Starley.  Meyer patented a wire spoke tension wheel with individually adjustable spokes.

1870
            January, the First Baptist Church building in Portland, Oregon, was completed and dedicated "to the service of God and our Lord Jesus Christ."  The entire cost of the church building including improvement of the grounds was $12,500.00.
            Andrew Carnegie develops the first large steel furnace.

1871
            March 29, The first Surgeon General, John M. Woodworth, is appointed by President Grant.
            May 4, The first supposedly Major League Baseball game is played.
            May, John Edgren began to publish Zions Wäktare (The Watchman of Zion).  This marks the beginning of a denominational press which is now publishing "The Standard."
            October 8,  the Great Chicago Fire.
            November 10, Henry Morton Stanley locates the missing explorer and missionary Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, and greets him by saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
            Ulysses S. Grant was president of The United States.  He was the 18th President.
            Mr. & Mrs. Hans Shogren with their family arrived from Minnesota.
            Read a written historical account from the notes of Harley Hallgren about the Scandinavian Work that is beginning around this point in time.
            Edison perfects the "duplex" telegraph.
            Bethel Theological Seminary has beginnings.  John Edgren opens a department for Scandinavian theological students in the fall, at the Union Theological Seminary in Chicago with one student, Christopher Silene.  A second student Nicholas Hayland began in midyear.  See 1996

 
 1872
            March 1,  Yellowstone becomes the First National Park. 
            "I Need Thee Every Hour" was written by Annie S Hawks.
             "Whiter than Snow" the words to this beautiful hymn were written by James Nicholson in this year.  The words were taken from Psalms 51:7.  "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."
            The Shogren family were received by letter into the membership of the First Baptist Church.  Mr. Shogren was a carpenter and engaged in carriage making (both horse drawn and the smaller variety in which babies are pushed by their mothers) in Portland until the daughters, years later had become well established in their high class tailoring business.  Mr. Shogren was an uncle of Mrs. Emanuel Bjorkquist of Warren and she relates that he together with his sister, Mrs. Bjorkquist's mother, were baptized in Chicago in 1856 by the Rev. Gustaf Palmquist, one of the earliest of Baptist pioneer preachers. Click here to see a letter written to Harley Hallgren from Mrs. Bjorkquist on February 9, 1944.
            The first street car was introduced.  It was horse drawn and ran on First Street from Clarendon Hotel and the Railroad Station at F street South to Jefferson Street.  Portland had it's first horse-drawn streetcar.

1873
            January 1, Willamette Falls Locks opens its gates for the first time to river traffic traveling along the Willamette, allowing safe portage around the 40-foot-high falls.
            February 4, George Bennard was born on this day.  He was an American hymn composer and preacher.  He is best know for composing the words and music to the famous hymn, "The Old Rugged Cross."  He died on October 10, 1958.
            August 2, a fire gutted much of Portland's business district and damage was estimated at $1,345,400.
            December 16, Robert Jaffray was born.  He was a missionary to China, Indonesia, and several other countries, with the Christian and Missionary Alliance who served as the founding principal of the Alliance Seminary in Hong Kong and principal contributor and editor of the Chinese language Bible Magazine.  Jaffrary founded the first Chinese missionary society called the Chinese Foreign Missionary Union in 1929.  His life is chronicled in the biography by A. W. Tozer, Let my people go!: The life of Robert A Jaffray, (1947).  He died on July 29, 1945.
            Samuel Kaboo Morris was born sometime this year.  He was a Liberian prince who converted to Christianity around the age of 14.  Around age 18, he left Liberia for the United States to achieve an education and arrived at Taylor University in December 1891.  Morris's life has been the subject of five novels, over a dozen biographies, a 1954 film, and a 1988 documentary.  Taylor University has named numerous building, scholarships, and a society in his honor.  His story helped to inspire other people to go to Africa to preach the gospel.  He died on May 12, 1893 from complications of a respiratory infection.
            Horatio G. Spafford wrote the beautiful hymn, "It is Well With My Soul."
            The book, "Around the World in Eighty Days," by Jules Verne, was first published.
            Nicholas Hayland is Bethel Seminary's first graduate.

 1874
            May 20, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.  The price was $13.50 per dozen.
            July 24, Mathew Evans and Henry Woodward patent the first incandescent lamp with an electric light bulb.
            July 29,  Oswald J. Chambers was born on this day in Aberdeen, Scotland to devout Baptist parents. As he grew up he did not have plans to go into the ministry.  He studied at Kensington Art School and attended the University of Edinburgh, where he studied fine art and archaeology.  He traveled the world, stopping in Egypt, Japan, and America.  It was on one of his trips to America that he met Gertrude Hobbs. They got married in 1910 and affectionately called her "Biddy."  In 1911, he founded and became principal of the Bible Training College in Clapham in London.  In 1915, feeling called to the war effort (WW I), he applied and was accepted as a YMCA chaplain.  At that time he announced that the Bible Training College would be suspending operations for the duration of the war.  Chambers was assigned to Zeitoun in Egypt, where he ministered to Australian and New Zealand troops. He died in Egypt on November 15, 1917 as the result of a ruptured appendix.. He suffered in extreme pain of appendicitis for three days before seeking medical attention, refusing to take a hospital bed needed by wounded soldiers.
            November 4, Democrats regain the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since 1860.

1875
             July 19, St. Vincent Hospital opened.
             September, Good Samaritan Hospital opened.
            "First recorded work for Scandinavians in Portland was a mission conducted  by a tailor, Charles A. Sandstone."-Harley Hallgren
            The First Baptist Church reported to the Willamette Association that gospel work was being done among the Scandinavians under the leadership of a Brother Sandstone.  In this he was no doubt encouraged by the Shogren's.

1876
            March 10, Alexander Graham Bell yelled those famous words, "Come here Mr. Watson, I want to see you!"  The business of providing telephone service was off and running.
            "The Manual" of the First Baptist Church of Portland, was written.  In it we read:  "Such are the beginnings of this letter one which an account of the importance of the position it occupies and the purity of the Christian doctrines it seeks to disseminated, we may well hope will yet, "become a thousand".   Return to 1862
       Carl Boberg wrote the words to the beloved hymn, "How Great Thou Art."

1877
            March 4, Rutherford B. Hayes becomes President of the United States.  He was the 19th U.S. President.
            May 6, Realizing that his people are weakened by cold and hunger, Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
            July 9, The Bell Telephone Company was formed by Gardiner Hubbard who was Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law.
            November 21, Thomas Edison invents the phonograph.
            By the end this year there were 3,000 telephones in service.
            Swedish Baptist Theological Seminary relocates from the University of Chicago campus to Morgan Park, Illinois.

1878
            February,  The first telephone book was published in New Haven, Connecticut, by the New Haven District Telephone Company. It was one page long and held fifty names - no numbers were listed as the operator would connect you. The page was divided into four heading residential, professional, miscellaneous, and essential service listings.  See Web Site having to do with History of the Telephone.
            Local telephone service in Portland, was established by the American Telephone and District Telegraph Co.

1879
            March 14, Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, in the Kingdow of Württemberg in the German Empire.  He died on April 18, 1955.
            May 25, Electric light arrived in Portland.
            June 12-14, organization of the Swedish Baptist General Conference of America, at Village Creek, Iowa.  John Ongman, moderator; A.P. Ekman, recording secretary; John A. Edgren, preacher of conference sermon.
            November 4, Will Rogers was born.  He was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, actor, and on of the best-known celebrities in the 1920's and 1930's.  Rogers died on August 15, 1935 with aviator Wiley Post, when their small airplane crashed near Barrow, Alaska.
            Henry Villard incorporates the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company and acquires the Oregon Steam Navigation Company.
            The Second Baptist Church developed under Rev. Addison Jones.  Today it is know as the Hinson Memorial Baptist Church.
            Portland's population was 20,000. 

1880
            March 4, James Garfield, was elected President of the United States.  He served 200 days after taking office.  His presidency was cut short after he was shot by Charles J. Guiteau while entering a railroad station in Washington D.C. on July 2, 1881.
            December,  Rev. John Gray became pastor and remained three years during which time the church building was enlarged and refitted. (Second Baptist Church now known as Hinson Church)  See 1879
            Henry Villard starts construction on the South Side Line of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company. 
            Fanny Crosby wrote the words to "Tell Me The Story of Jesus."  Fanny wrote over 8,000 hymns in her lifetime despite being blind.
            Canned fruits and meats appear in stores.
            Christopher Silene became the first missionary of the what is now The Baptist General Conference/Converge World Wide.
  

1881
            January, Olaus Okerson and his family arrived in Portland.  They stayed with the Shogren family home to which they were welcomed and kept until located elsewhere.
            January 23, Pastor Okerson's first preaching service in the Pacific Northwest was held in the Episcopal Chapel on SW 5th near Oak St.
            March 4, James Garfield, took office as President of the United States.
            An account of his observation of the City of Portland by Rev. John Stadling of Stockholm, Sweden and writes in his book published in Sweden in 1863.  Also read in the same page, Rev. Stadling's account of religious persecution in Sweden.
            July 2, President Garfield  was assassinated.  President Garfield died on September19th.
            In this year, or a few years prior, Horatio Gates Spafford lost his four daughters during an ocean voyage tragedy in 1873, and prompted him to write the words to “It is well with my soul”.  Music by Philip P. Bliss.  Click here to hear the hymn and read its complete history.
            Los Angeles is 102 years old with over 20,000 population.
            Astoria is the oldest town in Oregon.
            Portland had a population of 26,000.
            Salem had a population of 4,000.
            Oregon had a population of 160,000.               

1882
            February 3, P. T. Barnum purchases the elephant Jumbo for his circus.
            April 3, Old West outlaw Jesse James is shot and killed by Robert Ford.
            September 5, The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City.
            Panoramic View of the City of Portland looking East.  Place mouse pointer over thumbnail picture and click the mouse button to see a full size Panoramic View.  It is a large file so please be patient.  

1883
            April 15,  The First Scandinavian Baptist Church held meetings in its own building at S.W. Sixth and Caruthers.  Olaus Okerson was our pastor until the church was organized.   
            May 25, The Brooklyn Bridge Opened.
            June 3, A Scandinavian Baptist church was formed in Seattle, the first on the west coast.
            October 17, Rev. Gustof Liljeroth baptized John Palmblad and two others in Johnson Creek at Gresham.  This was the first baptismal service for our church. 
            October 30, Robert Reynolds Jones, Sr. was born on this day. He was an American evangelist, pioneer religious broadcaster and founder and first president of Bob Jones University.  He died on January 16, 1968.
            Mrs. Liljeroth conducted the Sunday School.  Click here to read an account of the history of the Temple Baptist Sunday School.
            The Boy's Brigade was founded by William Alexander Smith to combine drill and fun activities with Christian values.

1884
            Gustaf Liljeroth was our first pastor.
            January 1, First Scandinavian Baptist Church of Portland (now known as Temple Baptist Church) was organized by Gustaf Liljeroth.    Click here to see minutes of the meeting. Gustaf Liljeroth was our first Senior Pastor.  He served during the year 1884.
            Chester Arthur was president of the United States. He did not have a vice president and was the 21st president.
            United States Electric Lighting and Power Company was hired to establish electric service in Portland.
            The Union Pacific Railroad gains access to Portland.
            Sir Charles Parsons invents the first practical turbine steam engine.  Parsons had the satisfaction of seeing his invention adopted for all major world power stations.
            Dr. Edgren's Theological Seminary (Bethel Seminary) moved to St. Paul under the name "The Swedish American Bible Seminary," beginning a four year period of independent existence.
            Note: From the records of Harley Hallgren  Hard times came in 1884.  Railroad financial collapse resulted in much unemployment.  Work on the Portland Hotel stopped.  Some of the church members moved out of town onto farms, some went back East; P.A. Johnson went to Chicago and Mr. and Mrs. Rose went to Michigan.

1885
            Gustaf Liljeroth continued to be our pastor.
            May, Rev. Liljeroth went to Oakland, California where he organized a Scandinavian Baptist Church.  It is now known as Lakeside Baptist Church.
            October 1, Nicholas Hayland, first graduate of Bethel Seminary, became our second Senior Pastor.  He served during the years  1885-1888.
            November 2, Jack Dempsey fought David Campbell; Campbell lost.  David Campbell became one of Portland's greatest Fire Chiefs.  See 1895
            J. P. Rasmussen founded a retail and wholesale paint business at Washington between First and Second.
            Recorded names of people at First Scandinavian Baptist Church services in this year; PH Carlson, Lydia Lindblom, Hanna _______?, Anna Moe, Annna? Pearson, Mary Moe, Ellen Nelson, Andrew Olsam, Axel Loaderholm, David Hagg, ______ Stenstrom, Rev. Hayland, Mrs. Hayland, 3 children, Anna Youngstrom, Bernard ________?.  
            Pastor Hayland preached to South Portland Catholics and Jews.

1886
            Nicholas Hayland was our pastor during this year.
            February, "The Swedish American Bible Seminary" moved to Stromsburg, Nebraska, remaining for two years as "The Central Bible Seminary."
            June 23, Women's Sewing Society was formed. Read a historical account and see a picture of this group taken in the early 20's by clicking on the Women's Sewing Society Link.  Read the Constitution of the Sewing Bee in Swedish and also translated to English.  Also see Harley's Notes.
            July 3, Nicholas Hayland was reelected preacher, unanimously, "received all the votes of those present,-eleven in number."
            October 28, The Statue of Liberty was completed and dedicated.  
     "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled massed yearning to breath free.  The wrecked refuse of your teeming shore,  send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"     These words are taken from a poem, which is written in a bronze plaque placed on the base of the Statue of Liberty.  The words on the plaque is called "The New Collosus," written by Emma Lazarus.  Return to October 28, 2011.
            Dr. J. Pemberton sells his new drink Coca Cola, as a brain tonic. 
            The first lighthouse to use electricity was the Statue of Liberty. (snapple.com)

1887
            Nicholas Hayland was our pastor this year.
            August 1, a new building, The First Swedish Church of Portland on N.W. 12th near Glisan was erected and dedicated.
            August 27,  First Baptismal Service held in the 12th Street Church with Pastor Hayland baptizing Miss Anna Ljungstrom (sister of Mrs. Hayland), Miss Anna Person and Mr. David Hagg.
            April 12, First bridge across the Willamette River is open for traffic at Morrison Street.  The original Morrison Street Bridge was a wooden truss swing span bridge.  It was a wooden truss swing span bridge.  At the time the longest bridge west of the Mississippi River.  It was first a toll bridge (rates: horse drawn rig - US$0.15, team of horses - $0.20, pedestrian - $0.05 ) but went toll free in 1895.  The second Morrison was another swing bridge that was built in 1905.  It was not designed for automobile traffic. 
            A cable car line is begun to the heights in the west part of the city.
            The Armory is erected this year.
            Southern Pacific Railroad completes construction and opens service from San Francisco to Portland.
            Albina and Sellwood incorporated.
            Baron Gustaf Cederstrom painted the famous Swedish painting, "The Baptists."  To see an image in color of the painting and read about how the work came to canvas Click Here.
            Due to failing health J. A. Edgren terminated his work as dean of "The Central Bible Seminary."  Eric Sandell becomes teacher and acting dean of the seminary.

1888
             Nicholas Hayland was our pastor this year.
             January, the Willamette River froze.  People walked on ice for three months.
             August 25th, the trustees of the First Scandinavian Baptist Church of Portland decided to sell the property on Caruthers Street to John P. Nelson.
             September 19, Levi A. Lovegren was born on this day.  He was a missionary for the Baptist Church in Cherry Grove, Oregon.  He died on October 6, 1983.  See 1951
             September 29, A Young People's Society was organized with a membership of seventeen.  L. Larson was the first president.
             Electric Interurban Railway is completed to Vancouver.
             First Portland Rose Show is held.
            Johanna Anderson, St. Cloud, Minnesota, the first Swedish Baptist foreign missionary sailed for Burma.
            George Eastman Patents the Camera.
             Bethel Seminary returns to Morgan Park, Chicago, again as a separate Swedish department of the Baptist Union Theological Seminary with Eric Sandell as acting dean.

1889
            Uno M. Brauer became our third senior pastor.  He served during the years 1889-1890.            
            March 31, Eiffel Tower in Paris inaugurated.  (Tour Eiffel) was the worlds' tallest building from 1889 to 1930. 
            May 6, The Eiffel Tower opened.
            November 11, Washington is admitted to the Union, becoming the 42nd State.
            December 28, The Swedish Baptist Conference of the North Pacific Coast was organized.  It later became the Columbia Conference in 1930.
            Canadian Pacific Railway establishes a line of steamers between this city and China.
            Fulton Park street car line started-the first electric trolley line.
            The Portland Hotel is completed.
            Carl Gustaf Lagergren came to America from Sweden, and began his service of 33 years as dean of  Bethel  Theological Seminary.  He was the longest serving dean in the history of the seminary.

1890
            Uno M. Brauer was our pastor this year.
            February 28, The Cedarhome Baptist Church in Stanwood, Washington was organized.
            October 23, Henrietta Cornelia Mears was born on this day.  She was a Christian educator and author who had a significant impact on evangelical Christianity in the 20th century.  Miss Mears also founded Gospel Light, a publishing company, and Forest Home, a Christian conference center.  Among the many she influenced were Bill Bright and his wife Vonette, and Billy Graham.  Henrietta Mears died on March 19, 1963.
            The city's cable car line began service to the Portland Heights.
            August Erickson opens the Nine Bar Saloon at Burnside Street between Second and Third Avenues.
            Taxi (hack) rates, for immediate use, one person, not over one mile=50 cents.
            Population of City of Portland 72,357.
            U.S. National Bank was organized.
            The Columbia paddle wheeler Bailey Gatzert, the first overnight passenger vessel on the river, was built.  Both the fastest-at more than 20 miles per hour-and the most elegantly appointed, she sets the standard for passenger sternwheelers to come.

1891
           Rev. August Westerberg was our fourth senior pastor. He served during the years 1891 - 1893.
           July 6, East Portland and Albina consolidated with Portland.  Previously East Portland and Albina were  historical cities before they were made part of the city.
            December 14, Henry Barraclough was born.  He was educated in England, and studied organ and piano from the age of five.  He worked for a while as a claims adjuster for the Car and General Insurance Company.  From 1911 to 1913, he was secretary to Member of Parliament, George Scott Robertson.  He then joined the Chapman Alexander evangelistic team as a pianist, and traveled with tem to America and remained there.  He fought in World War I, rising to the rank of Sergeant Major, then became secretary and administrator. of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1919 to 1961.  He wrote words for 20 hymns and tunes to 120.  His most remembered hymn today is Ivory Palaces, which he wrote in 1915.  He died in August 1983.
            "All your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad."
                                                         Psalm 45:8 NKJV
            The Madison Bridge opened. The original bridge was replaced twice and is now known as the Hawthorne Bridge.
            A machine invented this year made mass production of the Fig Newton possible.

1892
            Rev. August Westerberg was our pastor.
            January 1, the immigration station opens at Ellis Island. 
            May, the church voted to withdraw from North Pacific Coast (Columbia) Conference.
            April 15, Corrie ten Boom was born on this day.  She was a Dutch Christian Holocaust survivor who helped many Jews escape the Nazis during World War II.  In December, 1967, Corrie was honored as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations" by the State of Israel.  In 1970, Corrie ten Boom co-wrote her autobiography, The Hiding Place, released in 1971 and which was made into a movie of the same name two year later starring Jeanette Clift as Corrie.  We had the privilege of having Corrie as the guest speaker at Temple on Easter Sunday evening  April 10, 1977.  She died on April 15, 1983.  A tree was planted in her honor at the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.
            June 20, The last day horses were used to pull streetcars in Portland.
            October 26, Westminster Presbyterian Church at 1624 NE Hancock, in Portland, was organized.
            November 8, Grover Cleveland was elected president of the United States.  He was the 22nd and 24th elected President.  In 1988 he won the popular vote but lost in the electoral college.
            First Baptist Church-(White Temple) on S.W. 12th and Taylor has cornerstone laid for new building.
            The Pledge of Allegiance was written this year by Francis Bellamy.
            The Baptist Union Theological Seminary, of which the Swedish Baptist Seminary was a department, becomes affiliated with the University of Chicago Divinity School.

 1893
            Rev. John Olander was pastor.  Rev. Olander was our fifth senior pastor.  He served during the years 1893-1894.
            Erik Hjalmar East felt the call of God to go the Foreign Field.
            Union Station is an improvement of this year.
            Portland had high water - had to make platforms at Henderson's to walk on.

1894
            Andrew Johnson was interim pastor during the time we did not have a senior pastor.
            The name "First Scandinavian Baptist Church of Portland" was changed to "The First Swedish Baptist Church."
            June 6, The Willamette River crested at 33 feet, causing the worst flood in Portland's history.
            November, Rev. David Oberg was elected pastor.  Rev. Oberg was our sixth senior pastor.  He served from 1894 to 1896.
            First Burnside Bridge opened.
            First Congregational Church building completed at Park and Madison.
            White Temple was erected at S.W.12th and Taylor and now known as The First Baptist Church of Portland.
            See Tax Lot information on Caruthers Street Church.

1895
            Rev. David Oberg was our pastor.
            February 26, David Campbell became 1st assistant to the Portland Fire Chief.
            June, the conference name was changed to the Swedish Baptist Conference.
            June 1, David Campbell became Portland's Fire Chief.  See 1885.
            July 4, America the Beautiful was first published in "The Congregationalist."  The poem was written by Katharine Lee Bates.
            Present City Hall completed.  The first steel frame, fireproof structure in the city.
            Astoria's railroad work started.  An Andrew B. Hammond enterprise.
            Ignaz Schwinn created Arnold, Schwinn and Company and started to make bikes.

1896
            Rev. David Oberg was our pastor.  He resigned the pastorate sometime during this year.  Alex Vester was our interim pastor during the time we were waiting for a new senior pastor.
            Sylvester Pennager was the Mayor of Portland.  See website for complete list of the mayors of the City of Portland.
            April 6, The opening ceremonies of the first modern Olympic Summer Games were held in Athens, Greece.
            May 22, Alfred D. Nobel died, leaving a fund of over eight million dollars.
            May 26, Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

1897
            Alex Vester was interim pastor until a new pastor arrives.
            March 4, William McKinley succeeds Grover Cleveland as President of the United States.
            April 3, Rev. Charles Asplund was called to be our seventh Senior Pastor.  He served from 1897 to 1902.
            April 21, A.W. Tozer was born on this date.  His full name was Aiden Wilson Tozer.  He was a Christian pastor, preacher, author, magazine editor, Bible conference speaker, and spiritual mentor.  He died on May 12, 1963.  Read some of Tozer's Quotes.
            July 17, The Klondike Gold Rush begins when the first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle.
            September 1, The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground metro in North America.
            October 2, Bud Abbott, American actor of Abbott and Costello was born.

1898
            Rev. Charles Asplund was our pastor.
            January 1, New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York.  The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island.
            February 15, Battleship Maine explodes in Havana's harbor, with crew of 266 killed.
            March 12, Battleship Oregon leaves San Francisco, around the tip of South America for Florida.
            April 13, The church Ladies' Mission Circle was organized to promote interest in home and foreign missions.
            April 25, United States declares war on Spain.
            May 22, Battleship Oregon arrives off Florida.  
            July 7, The United States annexes the Hawaiian Islands.
            September, Two men met in a YMCA hotel in Boscobel, Wisconsin. Discovering each other to be a Christian, they held their evening devotions together.  This was the start of the International Organization called the Gideons.  Gideons International is an evangelical Christian organization dedicated to distributing copies of the Bible in over 94 languages in 194 countries of the world, most famously in hotel and motel rooms.  The organization was founded in 1899 in Janesville, Wisconsin, as a early American parachurch organization dedicated to Christian evangelism.  It began distributing free Bibles, the work is chiefly known for, in 1908, when the first Bibles were placed in the rooms of the Superior Hotel in Superior, Montana.
       Nearly 79 million Gideon Scriptures were given out in 2009.  Close to 1.7 billion have been distributed since 1908.
       Gideons International is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
            November 29, C. S. Lewis, British author was born in Belfast, Ireland.  Clive Staples Lewis was known to his friends and family as "Jack," was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist.  He was known for both his fictional work, especially The Screwtape Letters, the Chronicles of Narnia and the Space Trilogy and his nonfiction, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles and The Problem of Pain.  He died on November 22, 1963 at the age of 64 in Oxford, England.
            December 10, The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Spanish-American War.
            December 17, The Oregon Historical Society was organized on this date. 
            A separate conference in Oregon that our church was a member of was established.  The conference name was then the Oregon Swedish Conference.
            William McKinley  was the 25th president of the United States   
            Sellwood annexed to Portland.
            Astoria's railroad completed.
           
1899
            Rev. Charles Asplund was our pastor.
            March 2, Mount Rainier National Park was established.
            December 22, Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist died.  He was born in 1837.
            Rev. G. A. Osbrink became the first Oregon Conference Missionary.
            E. Henry Wemme owns the first and only automobile in Portland.  It was a Stanley Steamer.
            The music to "Finlandia" was written by Jean Sibelius and was used for the music to several hymns including, "Be Still My Soul".  See 1752
            Gideons International was founded this year.  Read a document - Who Are the Gideons?

1900
            Rev. Charles Asplund was our pastor.
            January 3, The United States Census estimated the country's population was 70 million.
            February 14, Pastor Nicholas Hayland, our 2nd pastor and 1st graduate of John Edgren's Theological Seminary, (Bethel) passed away, in Tacoma, Washington.
            April 30, Hawaii becomes an official U.S.Territory.
            November 6, U.S. presidential election, incumbent William McKinley is reelected by defeating Democrat challenger William Jennings Bryan.
            Population in Portland - 90,426.
            1900-1914, 14 million immigrants pass through the US customs inspection station at Ellis Island in New York City.
            The Baptist General Conference is incorporated in Illinois.

1901
            Rev. Charles Asplund was our pastor.
            January 1, The world celebrates the beginning of the 20th century.
            March 4, United States President William McKinley begins his 2nd term.  Theodore Roosevelt is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
            April 25, New York State becomes the first to require automobile license plates.  At first, plates were not government issued in most jurisdictions and motorists were obliged to make their own. 
            August 29,  Olaus Okerson, died in McMinnville, Oregon.
            September 2,  U.S. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.
            September 6, American anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoots U.S. President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.  McKinley dies 8 days later.
            September 14, Theodore Roosevelt succeeds William McKinley as President of the United States.
            December 10, The first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm on the 5th anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.
            December 5, Walt Disney, American animator and film producer was born.

1902
            Rev. Charles Asplund was our pastor.  After Rev. Asplund resigned, Uno M. Brauer and Gordon Johnson served as an interim pastors until a new senior pastor became available.  
            January 1, The first college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena, California.
            January 16, Eric Liddell, a Scottish runner was born. He was often called the "Flying Scotsman" because of his speed in track and his game of rugby.  He was born in Tianjin in North China, the second son of the Rev. and Mrs. James Liddell, who were Scottish missionaries with the London Missionary Society.  He represented Scotland in the 1924 Olympics which, were hosted by the city of Paris.  A devout Christian, Liddell refused to run in a heat held on Sunday and was forced to withdraw from the 100-meters race, his best event.  He died on February 21, 1945 in the Weihsien Internment Camp, China.  The movie "Chariots of Fire," portrayed Liddell's life.
            February 4, Charles Lindbergh, American Aviator was born.  He died in 1974.
            February 24, Gladys Aylward was born.  She was the evangelical Christian missionary to China whose story was told in the book "The Small Woman" by Alan Burgess, published in 1957.  In 1958, the story was made into the Hollywood film, "The In of the Sixth Happiness", starring Ingrid Bergman.  Miss Aylward was born of a working-class family in Edmonton, London.  Although she became a domestic worker at an early age, she always had an ambition to go overseas as a missionary, and studied with great determination in order to be fitted to the role, only to be turned down because her academic background was inadequate and the missionary training school to which she applied was convinced that it was not possible to learn the language at her age.  Her determination was such that, in 1930, she spent her life savings on a passage to Yuncheng, Scanxi Province, China.  The perilous trip took her across Siberia. Read a condensed story about Miss Aylward.  Miss Aylward died on January 3, 1970 in Taiwan at the age of 67.
            May 22, President Theodore Roosevelt designated Crater Lake a National Park.
            August 22, Theodore Rosevelt becomes the first American President to ride in an automobile when he rides in a Columbia Electric Victoria through Hartford, Connecticut.
            October, Rev. J. A. Huggert became our eighth senior pastor.
            Rev. Gustaf Johnson succeeds Rev. Osbrink as missionary.
            The Oregon Journal newspaper started in Portland.
            The building, which houses the current Cairo Museum was built and inaugurated.  The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities contains many important pieces of ancient Egyptian history.  It houses the world's largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities, and many treasures of King Tutankhamen.
            Dr. Luther Leonidas Hill performed the first open heart surgery in the Western Hemisphere by suturing  stab wound in a young boy's heart.  The surgery occurred in Montgomery, Alabama.
 
1903
            Rev. J. A. Huggert was our pastor.
            February 15, Morris and Rose Mitchom introduce the first teddy bear in America.
            April 19, Eliot Ness, American treasury agent was born on this day.  He died in 1957.
            May 2, Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician was born on this day.  He died in 1998.
            May 3, Bing Crosby, American singer and actor was born on this day.  He died in 1977.
            May 29, Bob Hope, English-born American comedian and actor was born on this day.  He died in the year 2003.
            June 16, The Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on this date.
            June 19, Lou Gehrig, American base ball player was born on this day.  He died in 1941.
            June 22, John Dillinger, American Bank robber was born on this day.  He died in 1934.
            July 23, Dr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago becomes the first owner of a Ford Model A.
            July 31, An armless swimmer, (Professor Clarence Lutz) swam across the Willamette River near the Morrison Bridge.  People were lined up on the Morrison Bridge to watch him when the part of the bridge gave way and tumbled people onto the boat houses below. There were many injuries and 3 died.
            September 15, Roy Acuff, American country musician was born on this day.  He died in 1992.
            October 1, The first modern World Series pits the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates against Boston Americans of the American League.  Boston won 5 games to 3.  Boston won the last 4 games.
            November 4, Watchman Nee was born in Swatow, China.  During his 30 years of ministry, beginning in 1922, Nee traveled throughout China planting churches among the rural communities and holding Christian conferences and trainings in Shanghia.  In 1952, he was imprisoned for his faith; he remained in prison until his death on May 30,1972 in Anhwei province, China.
            November 18, The Panama Canal Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the U.S. exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.
            December 17, Orville Wright flies an aircraft with a petrol engine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in the first documented, successful, controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight.
            The first box of Crayola crayons were made and sold for 5 cents. It contained 8 colors; brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and black.

1904
            Rev. J. A. Huggert was our pastor.
            January 2, James Longstreet, Confederate Civil War General died today.  He was born in 1821.
            February 29, Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader was born today. He died in 1957.
            March 1, Glenn Miller, American bandleader was born on this day.  He died in 1944.
            March 2, Dr. Seuss, American children's arthor; "The Cat in the Hat," was born on this day.  He died in 1991.
            May 4, U.S. Army engineers begin work on The Panama Canal.
            May 5, Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
            July 1, The third Modern Olympic Games opens in St. Louis Missouri, as part of the World's Fair.
            July 6, Erik Wickberg, General of the Salvation Army was born today.  He died in 1996.
            July 21, The Trans-Siberian railway is completed.
            October 27, The first underground line of the New York City Subway opens.
            September 26, Axel Anderson and Carl V. Anderson were baptized.
            November 8, U.S. Presidential Election.  Republican incumbent Theodore Roosevelt defeats Democrat Alton B. Parker.
            November 24, The first successful caterpillar track is made (it later revolutionizes construction vehicles and land warfare.
            December 27, The stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up premieres in London.
            December 31,  The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York.

1905
            Rev. J. A. Huggert was our pastor.
            April 12, the 12th avenue church property was sold.  Services were held in The German Methodist church from April to September.
            May 30, Oaks Park opened.
            June 1, President Theodore Roosevelt sent a telegraph from Washington declaring the Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition open.  Portland hosted the Lewis & Clark Exposition which ran for 137 days and was held at Guilds Lake.  Two million people saw the exhibits.  See picture of the original Forestry Building.  See the year 1964
            Late Summer, Rev. Huggert had to resign the pastorate at our church because of ill health.
            September 17,  a new building, The First Swedish Baptist Church at N.W. Fifteenth and Hoyt was dedicated.
            October 29, Albert Brumley was born near Spiro, Oklahoma.  He spent much of his early life chopping and picking cotton on his family's farm.  In 1926, he enrolled in the Hartford Musical Institute of Hartford, Arkansas, and studied there through 1931.  The institute was led by Eugene Monroe Bartlett, who was the owner of the Hartford Music Company.  Brumley purchased Hartford Music Company in 1948. He died in November 16, 1977 at the age of 72.  Some of the more than 800 songs he wrote were, "I'll Fly Away," "Turn Your Radio On," "If We Never Meet Again (This Side of Heaven)," "I'll Meet You in the Morning," and "He Set Me Free."  He established the Albert E. Brumley Sundown to Sunup Gospel Sing (now Albert E. Brumley Gospel Sing) in 1969 in Springdale, Arkansas.  Brumley has been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and Oklahoma Music Hall of fame."  Mr. Brumley died on November 16, 1977 at the age of 72.
            "Be Thou My Vision", the words written in Ancient Irish, were translated to English by Mary Elizabeth Byrne.
            "His Eye is on the Sparrow", the words written by Civilla D. Martin.
            "In the Sweet By and By", the words and music written by Charles D. Tindley.
            Bethel Academy opens in Elim Baptist Church in Minneapolis with Arvid Gordh as principal.   

1906
            January 1, Eric Scherstrom took over the pastorate a our church.
            February 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born on this day.  He was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian.  He was also a participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism, a founding member of the Confessing church.  His involvement in plans by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office') to assassinate Adolf Hitler resulted in his arrest in April 1943, and his subsequent execution by hanging on April 9, 1945, at Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, 23 days before the Nazis' surrender and the wars end.   His view of Christianity's role in the secular world has become very influential. 
            March 6, Victor Hasselblad, Swedish inventor and photographer was born on this day.  He died in the year1978.
            April 18, An estimated magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the San Andreas Fault destroys much of San Francisco, California, killing at least 3,000, with 225,000-300,000 left homeless, and $350 million in damages.
            June 7, The RMS Lusitania is launched in Glasgow.  It is the world's largest ship.
            August 22, The first Victor Victrola, a phonographic record player, is manufactured.
            October 25, The Peter Iredale, a four-masted steel sailing vessel en route to the Columbia River, ran aground on the sand north of Fort Steven's Campground on the Oregon Coast. The wreckage is still visible, making it a popular tourist attraction as one of the most accessible shipwrecks of the Graveyard of the Pacific.  The ship was sailing from Salina Cruz, Mexico, on or about September 26, 1906, and was bound for Portland, Oregon with 1,000 tons of ballast and a crew of 27, including two stowaways. 
            November 3, SOS becomes an international distress signal.
            Rev. Carl Axel Boberg succeeds Rev. Gustaf Johnson as Oregon Missionary.
            Mr. and Mrs. Lundberg were the custodians at the 15th and Hoyt church.
            Theodore Roosevelt won a Nobel Peace Prize for peace.

1907
            Eric Scherstrom was our pastor.
            May 26, John Wayne, American actor was born on this day.  John, known as "Duke" died in 1979.
            May 30,  See the Announcement for the Yearly Banquet of the Sunday School 
            June 5, The Church at Warren was organized.
            July 16, Orville Redenbacher, American botanist and popcorn businessman was born on this day.  Mr. Redenbacher died in 1995.
            June 22, Barney Oldfield broke the world's circular track record at Irvington Park.  He was the world's greatest automobile racing driver at the time.
            September 29, Gene Autry, American actor, singer and business man was born on this day.  Mr. Autry died in 1998.
            The first Rose Festival was held in Portland.  An electrical parade was a sparkling feature of the first festival and was described as the most lavish spectacle of its kind on the continent.
            A.G. Sandblom  came to the west coast as a missionary and continued until September, 1912.
            Rev. A. G. Sandblom succeeds Rev. Boberg as Oregon Missionary.

1908
            Eric Scherstrom was our pastor.
            January 12, A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffle Tower for the first time.
            January 26, John A. Edgren, founder of Bethel Theological Seminary and the denominational press, passed away in Oakland, California.  He was besides being the founder served for sixteen years as director of the Seminary when it was in Morgan Park, Illinois.  A true man.  A loyal naval officer of the Civil War.  An earnest student and teacher.  A loving husband and father.  Faithful pastor and preacher,  An eminent theologian and author.  And above all a true and sincere Christian.   Taken from "Seventy-Five Years" - Bethel Theological Seminary pg 14.  See 1839
            January 24, Robert Baden Powell begins the Boy Scout movement.
            March 22, Louis L’Amour was born in Jamestown, North Dakota.  He eventually wrote 89 novels, mostly western, over 250 short stories, and sold more than 320 million copies of his work. By the 1970's his writings were translated into over 20 languages.  Every one of his works is in print.  L'Amour died from lung cancer on June 10, 1988, at his home in Los Angeles.
            April 21, Frederick Cook claims to have reached the North Pole on this date.
            Spokane Portland and Seattle Railroad completed to Portland.
            July 4, See Photo of Young People's Picnic.
            October 1, Ford Motor Company unveiled the Model T.
            December 31, The Manhattan Bridge opens in New York City.
       
1909
            Eric Scherstrom was our pastor.
            January 1, Barry Goldwater, American politician was born on this date.  He died in 1998.
            February 1, George Beverly Shea, American gospel singer and songwriter was born on this date.
            February 17, Geronimo, Apache Leader died on this date.  He was born in 1829.
            February 24, The Hudson Motor Car Company is founded.
            March 4, William Howard Taft succeeds Theodore Roosevelt as 27th President of the United States.
            March 31, Construction begins on the RMS Titanic at Harland and Wolff Shipyards in Belfast, Ireland.
            April 1, Robert Preston Taylor was born.  He was a military officer (Major General) who served as the 3rd Chief of Chaplains of the United States Air Force.  A graduate of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, he notably served as a chaplain during World War II and was a Prisoner of War and a survivor of the Bataan Death March,  He began his tenure as chief of chaplains.  He died on February 1, 1997 at the age of 87.
            June 14, Burl Ives was born on this date.  He was an American actor, writer and folk music singer.  As an actor, Ive's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures.was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures.  He died on April 14, 1995 in Anacortes, Washington at the age of 85.  .
            August 10, Leo Fender, American guitar inventor and manufacturer was born on this date. He died on March 21, 1991.
            August 19, Powell Valley (Haley) church was organized.
            September 28, Al Capp, American cartoonist was born on this date.  He died in 1979.
            November 11, The U.S. Navy founds a navy base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

1910
            Eric Scherstrom was our pastor.
            April 20, Halley's Comet was visible from Earth.
            May 18, The earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley.
            May 31, The Union of South Africa is created.
            August 26, Mother Teresa was born on this day.  She died on September 5, 1997.
            October 1, Pastor Eric Scherstorm resigned the pastorate or our church.
            Erick Scherstrom was our 9th Senior Pastor.
            Philip Forsander left for Morgan Park Seminary, to become a Pastor and Naval Chaplain.
            The Sewing Circle and Mission Circle were combined.
            In the spring, the blind evangelist, A J Freeman, and his daughter, Ester, held meetings which were used of God in the salvation of many souls.
            The population of Portland reaches 207,214.

1911
            Rev. Fredrick Linden was our 10th Senior Pastor.
            January 18, Eugene B. Ely flew a Curtiss pusher aircraft and landed on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania, an armored cruiser stationed in San Francisco harbor, making the first time an aircrafts lands on a ship.  The ship was anchored in San Francisco Bay.  Ely landed on a platform constructed on her afterdeck using the first ever tailhook system, opening the era of naval aviation and aircraft carriers.  
            February 6, Ronald Regan, actor and 40th President of the United States was born on this day.  He died in 2004.
            March 24, Joseph Barbera, American cartoonist was born on this day.  He died in 2006.
            March,  Louis Chevrolet and a group of men working in a loft above a small shop on Grand Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, began assembling the first Chevrolet car.  See November 3, of this year.
            May 30, The first Indianapolis 500-mile auto race is run.  The winner is Ray Harroun in the Marmon 'Wasp.'
            August 6, Lucille Ball, American actress (I Love Lucy) was born on this day.  She died in 1989.
            November 3, Louis Chevrolet co founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company with William C. Durant.   Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market to compete with the Ford Model T.
            November 5, Roy Rogers, American cowboy singer and actor was born on this day.  He died in 1998.
            The Hymn, "Rise Up O Men of God," was written by William P. Merrill.

1912
            Fredrick Linden was our pastor.
            January 1, The Republic of China, (the Island of Tawian) is established.  Not to be confused with mainland China, known as the People's Republic of China.
            January 6, New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.
            January 28, The church at Cherry Grove was organized.
            February 14, Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
            March 1, Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.  Mr. Berry jumped from a Benoit pusher biplane.
            March 6, The first sale of Oreo Cookie was made from the National Biscuit Company to a grocer in Hoboken named S. C. Thuesen.  From an article from the New York Times Pg. B1, Tuesday, February 28, 2012.
            March 12, The Girl Scouts of the USA are founded.
            April 15, The "unsinkable" ocean liner Titanic sinks on maiden voyage after colliding with an iceberg; over 1,500 drown.  There were 706 survivors.
            April 20, Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, opens.
            May 5 - July 27, Stockholm, Sweden was host for the Summer Olympic Games.  At, 25, The United States won the most gold medals, while at 65, Sweden won the most medals over all.  American Jim Thorpe won the pentathlon and newly created decathlon.  He was disqualified after the fact but in 1982 was reinstated.  King Gustav of Sweden said, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world," to which Thorpe replied, "Thanks, King."
            July 17, Art Linkletter was born on this day.  He was a Canadian-American radio and television personality and the former host of two long-running US television shows:  "House Party," which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and "People Are Funny," on NBC radio-TV for 19 years.  Mr. Linkletter was famous for interviewing children on "House Party" and "Kids Say the Darndest Things," which led to a successful series of books quoting children. He died on May 26, 2010.
            August 9, On this date the Steel bridge in Portland over the Willamette River was open to automobile traffic.  It opened to rail traffic earlier in July.  The bridge was built to replace the aging original bridge built in 1888, which was a double-deck swing-span bridge.  The new bridge assumed the same name as its predecessor.
            September, Rev. August Olson succeeds Rev. Sandblom as Oregon Missionary.
            December,  Mr. and Mrs. John Milton went to Cherry Grove from Portland and bought a lot on First Avenue to build a hotel.  It was rushed to completion and ready for use in late January the following year. 
            Reed College opens at S.W. Eleventh and Jefferson.  The college was established in 1908.
            The Haley church was dedicated.  John Johnson was the first pastor from 1907-1920.
            The Theological Seminary  which was a department of the Divinity School at The University of Chicago terminated its support of Bethel Seminary.
            The hymn "The Old Rugged Cross" was composed by Rev. George Bennard 
            The first Swedish Baptist Church in Oregon, outside of Portland, was established in Cherry Grove.
            A. J. Wingblade succeeds Arvid Gordh as principal of Bethel Acadamy.

1913
            Fredrick Linden was our pastor.
            February 1, New York City's Grand Central Terminal, having been rebuilt, reopens as the world's largest train station.
            February 3, The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect income taxes.
            March 4, Woodrow Wilson succeeds William Howard Taft as 28th President of the United States.
            March 13, David Livingstone, missionary and explorer, was born in Scotland.
            April 22, The Broadway Bridge was open for traffic.
            July 18, Red Skelton, American comedian was born on this day.  He died in 1997.
            December 23, The Federal Reserve is created by Woodrow Wilson.
            Woodrow Wilson becomes 28th U.S. President.
            Henry Ford develops the first moving assembly line.

1914
            Fredrick Linden was our pastor.
            January 6, Danny Thomas, American singer, actor, and comedian was born this day.  He died in the year 1991.
            February 12, Lincoln's Birthday, Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
            March 2, Captain G. W. Schroeder, in a sense the first Swedish Baptist, died in Brooklyn, New York.  He was nearly 93 years of age.
            May 13, Joe Louis, American boxer was born on this day.  He did in 1981.
            May 14, Woodrow Wilson signs a Mother's Day proclamation.
            May 29, The ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; 1,012 lives are lost.
            June 28, The First World War started with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand the Inspector of the Austro-Hungarian Army, and his wife, Sophie von Chotkovato during a parade in Sarajevo.
            July 11, Baseball legend Babe Ruth makes his major league debut with the Boston Red Sox.
            August 15, The Panama Canal is inaugurated with the passage of the steamship U.S.S. Ancon.
            August 15, The first modern red and green traffic lights are installed in Cleveland, Ohio.
            September 13, W.Ian Thomas was born in London, England. He joined the British Army in World War II,  He was decorated with the D.S.O. (Distinguished Service Order) and the T.D. (Territorial Decoration).  When the Germans surrendered, Major W. Ian Thomas went and took the flag of surrender.  After his service in the British Army, Major Thomas was probably best known as a Bible teacher, author and founder of both Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers (based at Capernwray Hall, England) and subsequently Torchbearers International (based in the USA).  He died at the just before his 94th birthday on August 1, 2007 in Estes Park, Colorado, USA.   ".....that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection......"  Philippians 3:10
            October 7, Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. marries Rose Fitzgerald in Boston.
            November 16, A year after being created by passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States officially opens for business.
            November 25, Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player was born on this day.  He died in 1999.
            Seventh Street on the West side renamed Broadway.
            The Portland Central Library moves to S.W. Tenth and Yamhill.
            Bethel Seminary moved from Chicago, to a new building on Snelling Avenue Campus in St. Paul merging with Academy as "Bethel Academy and Theological Seminary," the beginning of a school work owned and operated by the Baptist General Conference.  G. Arvid Hagstrom was elected president of the combined two schools.

1915
            Fredrick Linden was our pastor.
            January 12, The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress.
            January 12, The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposal to give women the right to vote.
            January 28, An act of the U.S. Congress designates the United States Coast Guard, begun in 1790, as a military branch.
            May 6, Babe Ruth hits his firs career home run off of Jack Warhop who was a pitcher for the New York Highlanders/New York Yankees.
             May 7--British ocean liner Lusitania sunk by German submarine's torpedo, 1,198 perish.
            July 28, The United States occupation of Haiti begins.
            September 7, Former cartoonist John B. Grulle is given a patent for his Raggedy Ann doll.
            December 12, Frank Sinatra, American entertainer was born on this day.  "Ole Blue Eyes" died in the year 1998.
            Emanuel Hospital builds first building on Stanton Street.
            Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies (4-1) in the World Series.
            The Ford Motor Company opened an assembly plant at 2505 SE 11th Ave in Portland.  It was this year that Ford built its millionth car.
        

1916
            Rev. Axel Tjernlund served as Interim Pastor. 
            January 1, read the Församlings Posten (Assembly News).  Our church news letter - written in Swedish.
            April, The light switch is invented by William J. Newton and Morris Goldberg.
            October 4,  Rev. Gideon Sjolander accepted the call to be our pastor.  He was our 12th senior pastor.
            A dedication of the opening of the Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway was held at Multnomah Falls.
            Bethel Kvinnoforbund (women's federation) is organized under the leadership of Mrs. Olaf Bodien.   

1917
            Rev. Gideon Sjolander was our pastor.
            February 14, The Interstate Bridge to Vancouver is opened to traffic.
            April 2, President Woodrow Wilson appeared before The Congress of the United States and asked them to declare war on Germany.
            April 6, The United States entered the First World War.
            May 8,  Ken N. Taylor was born in Portland, Oregon.  His father was a Presbyterian minister.  He graduated from Beaverton High School in 1934 and enrolled in Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.  He graduated from Wheaton in 1938.  He was an American publisher and author, better known as the creator of the Living Bible and the founder of Tyndale House, a Christian publishing company.
            July 30, The Steel Bridge burned.  It was 3 years old.
            Shipbuilding increases 35%
            As roads and railways replaced the rivers as the major means of transportation, the last overnight passenger sternwheeler operating on the Columbia River is removed from service.

1918
            Rev. Gideon Sjolander was our pastor.
            February 12, Eric Sandell, teacher at Bethel Theological Seminary for 22 years, passed away.
            May 8,  John Morrison Birch was born on this day in Landour, Uttarakhand, India.  He was an American military intelligence officer and a Baptist missionary in World War II who was shot by armed supporters of the communist Party of China.  Some politically conservative groups in the United States consider him to be a martyr and the first victim of the Cold War.  The John Birch Society, an American right-wing conservative organization formed 13 years after his death is named in his honor.  He died on August 25, 1945 in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
            November 7, Billy Graham was born on a farm in North Carolina.  He is an American evangelical Christian evangelist, who rose to celebrity status as his sermons were broadcast on radion and television.  Graham has been spiritual adviser to several United States Presidents and has met with 12, dating back to Harry S. Truman,  He has repeatedly been on Gallup's most admired man and woman poll, and is listed at number seven for the 20th century (taken in 1999).  He was ordained by the Southern Baptist Convention.  He has preached the Gospel in person to more people than any other person in history.  On August 13, 1943, he married Wheaton classmate Ruth Bell.  A saying he is noted for is, "The Bible says........"  This year, 2012, he will be 94 years old.
            November 11, at 11:00 PM, (11-11-11) The First World War ended.  The Armistice was signed in the "Forest of Compiegne," in France.  Also see this  World War 1 Website.
            Four immense steel plants are now building ships.  See Web page about the Portland Shipyards.

1919
            Rev. Gideon Sjolander was our pastor.
            January, Temple Baptist Church celebrated its 35th anniversary.
            June 20, Roy Allen open a roadside root beer stand in Lodi, California, using a formula he had purchased from a pharmacist.   In 1920, Allen became partners with Frank Wright and the two combined their initials and called their product A&W Root Beer.
            The Young People's Society suggested that the church start a building fund. This matter was later taken up.  To see excerpts from the Business Meeting minutes for February 4, 1919,  Click Here.
            Bishop Festo Kivengere was born sometime during this year.  He was a Ugandan Anglican-Christian leader referred to by many as "the Billy Graham of Africa."  He played a huge role in a Christian revival in southwestern Uganda, but had to flee in 1973 to neighboring Kenya in fear for his life after speaking out against Idi Amin's tyrannical behavior.  Kivengere had been made a bishop of Kigezi and was among several bishops summoned to Amin's quarters.  Angry mobs called for their deaths.  Eventually, all were permitted to leave but one, the archbishop, Janani Luwum.  The others waited for Luwum to join them but he never came out.  The next day the government announced that Luwum had died in an automobile accident.  Four days later, despite government threats, 45,000 Ugandans gathered in the Anglican cathedral in Kampala for a memorial service honoring their fallen leader.  Kivengere did not attend the service.  Urged to flee by friends who said, "One dead bishop is enough,' he and his wife that night drove as far as their vehicle could take them and with the help of local church people in the hills they walked until the next morning brought them to safely across the border in Rwanda.  Also see another link about Bishop Festo.

1920
            Rev. Gideon Sjolander was our pastor.
            January, the Oregon Conference was held at this church and a large number of delegates made a trip to Warren, Oregon, to dedicate the church there.
            July, Pastor Sjolander visits Sweden.
            Rev. Emanuel Björkquist becomes Interim Pastor while Pastor Sjolander was away from the pulpit. 
            July, Pastor Axel Tjernlund went to be with the Lord.
            August 3, Pastor Sjolander was granted 9 months leave of absence to visit Sweden.
            August 18, The Nineteenth amendment to the Constitution was ratified by the required number of states.
            August 26, Fourteen years after the death of Susan B. Anthony, women were given the right to vote in the United States by the Nineteenth amendment to the Constitution..
            October 31, the Deacon Board arranged a meeting to honor John Palmblad on his eightieth birthday.  Mr. Palmblad gave the church of $50.00 for the new church lot that the church expected to buy.  Reported by O.S. Rydman on November 20.
            Rev. Emanuel Bjorkquist succeeds Rev. Sandblom as Oregon Missionary.
            Population of Portland reached 258,288.
            Bethel Seminary's name became "Bethel Institute."
            See a photo of the church choir.
            Bethel Academy and Theological Seminary becomes the Bethel Institute.

1921
            Rev. Gideon Sjolander was our pastor.
            Rev. Emanuel Björkquist becomes Interim Pastor while Pastor Sjolander was away from the pulpit.
            January, the church began to have a service once a month in English, for the benefit of those not understanding Swedish.  Gradually the shift to English services became a reality as the church's responsibility to minister to the neighborhood as well as the Swedish population was recognized.
            September 6, The Peace Arch at the border of Canada and The United States near Blaine, Washington. and Surrey, British Columbia  was dedicated.
            September 13, The White Castle Restaurant chain opened in Wichita, Kansas.  It was the first of its kind on the U.S.
            October 19, American evangelist William R. "Bill" Bright was born on this day.  He was the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, wrote the Four Spiritual Laws in 1952 and produced the Jesus film in 1979. He died on July 19, 2003.
            November 15, the church voted to purchase property at the east end of the Broadway Bridge near Interstate Ave on Larrabee Street.  Later the Interstate property was sold.
            November 27, The first program of radio entertainment ever put on the air in Portland was broadcast by the Portland Telegram on this date, from its offices in the Pittock block, operation under a temporary government permit.  The Telegram's Station's call letters were KEX, 239.9Meters, 1250 Kilocycles.
            Bethel celebrates it's 50th anniversary.

1922
            Rev. Gideon Sjolander was our pastor.
            February 5, DeWitt and Lila Wallace publish the first issue of Reader's Digest.
            February 8, President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio in the White House.
            March 25, KGW opens the first radio broadcasting station and makes its first broadcast on this date.
            May 5, Construction begins on Yankee Stadium.
            May 30, The Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. is dedicated.
            November 4, Archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt.
            November 26, Charles M. Schulz, American cartoonist, creater of Peanuts was born on this day.  Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible, Luke 2:8-14 to explain "What Christmas is all about."  In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side.  He died on February 12, 2000.
            See photo of Pastor Sjolander's Bible Class.
            Bethel Seminary adds the Bible and Missionary Training School for Laity.
           Arvid Gordh succeeds Carl Gustaf Lagergren as seminary dean.

1923
            Rev. Gideon Sjolander was our pastor.
            June, The Young People's Society celebrated their 35th anniversary.  The church was then called "First Swedish Baptist Church."  See a photo taken on the front steps of the the church at SW 15th and Hoyt Streets.
            See a photo of "The Cheerful Helpers" Sunday School Class. 
            See a photo of  Sunday School Picnic, probably held on July 4th.
            See a photo of Men's "Berea" Sunday School Class.
            Thomas O. Chisholm wrote, "Great is Thy Faithfulness"  Return to 1866
             A.H. Johnson became the Missionary of Washington Swedish Baptist Conference
             July 23, President Harding drove the "Golden Spike" to signal the completion of the Fairbanks to Seward Alaska railroad.
             August 30, Nathanael "Nate" Saint was born.  He was an evangelical Christian missionary pilot to Ecuador who along with four others were killed on January 8, 1956, while attempting to evangelize the Waodani people through efforts known as Operation Auca.  
 
1924
            Rev. Gideon Sjolander was our pastor.            
            January 15, Pastor Sjolander resigns to accept a call to become the General Conference Missionary.
            January 21, Vladimir Lenin dies and Joseph Stalin begins to purge his rivals to clear the way for his leadership of  The Soviet Union.
            April 1, Rev.  J. Alfred Erickson became Pastor.  He was our 13th senior pastor.
            May 4, The 1924 Summer Olympics opening ceremonies are held in Paris, France. 
            May 10, J. Edgar Hover is appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
            June 12, George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st President of the United States was born this day.
            November 1, Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize was born on this day.
            November 4, U.S. presidential election: Republican Calvin Coolidge defeats Democrat John W. Davis and Progressive Robert M. LaFollette, Sr. 
            November 27, In New York City the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held.
            Ester Sabel joins the faculty as head of the Bible and Missionary Training School.

 1925
            Rev. J. Alfred Erickson was our pastor.
            January 5, Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the first female governor in the United States.  She was elected governor of the state of Wyoming.
            March 4, Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to have his inauguration broadcast on radio.
            May 12, Yogi Berra, American baseball player was born on this day.
            May 25, The Baraca Sunday School Class held their second annual banquet at Henry Thiele's Restaurant. See the menu and program.
            See notes from annual meeting concerning the new church at N.E. 7th and Clackamas by clicking here.
            November 26, Margaret Brunander (Steel) was baptized.
             Burma-Shave was introduced by the Burma-Vita company.  From 1925 to 1963, the Burma Shave sign series appeared on road sides in most of the contiguous United States.
            November 28, The country-variety show Grand Ole Opry makes its radio debut on station WSM in Nashville, Tennessee.  It later becomes the longest-running live music show.
            Adolph Hitler wrote volume one of the book Mein Kampf while in prison.
            K.J. Karlson succeeds Arvid Gordh as seminary dean.

1926
            Rev. J. Alfred Erickson was our pastor.            
            January, property at Seventh and Clackamas was purchased.  Click the link to read about the history of the city block the church building sits on.
            March 6, The Building Committee recommended hiring a competent Architect to draw up plans for a new Church Building.
            April 3, Gus Grissom, American astronaut was born on this day.  Mr. Grissom died in 1967.
            April 21, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom was born on this day.
            April 27, The Architect Walter Kelly presented plans for a building that would cost $50,000.  The plans were adopted.
            June 1, Andy Griffith, American actor of The Andy Griffith show was born on this day.
            June 10, Antoni Gaudi, Catalan architect died on this day.  He was born in 1852.
            September 1, Walter Kelly presented a sketch of the new church building.
            September19, ground breaking took place for the new building.
            October 4, See drawing of Front Elevation of new church building.
            November 11, Route 66 was established.  U.S. Route 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway after the humorist, and colloquially known as the Main Street of America or the Mother Road or "The most famous road in the world."
            November 27, In Williamsburg, Virginia the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg begins.
            Aviation proponents proposed an airport for Portland on Swan Island, northwest of downtown Portland on the Willamette River.  The Port of Portland purchased 256 acres and construction began in 1926.  Although the airport wasn't completed until 1930, Charles Lindberg flew in and dedicated the new airfield in 1927.
            Fall, Multnomah Stadium, now known as PGE Park, opened.  Work started on the park in 1925.
            First bachelor of divinity degree is granted at Bethel.

1927
            Rev. J. Alfred Erickson was our pastor. 
            March 6, Sunday afternoon, the cornerstone was set in place.
            May 20-21, Charles Lindberg makes the first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight, from New York to Paris in the single-seat, single-engine monoplane Spirit of St. Louis.
            June 5, last service in the old building on Hoyt Street.
            June 12, dedication of the new church building.
                Click Here to see the Invitation to the Dedication Exercises.  
                Click Here to see the Program For Dedication.
            August 10,  work started on the carving of Mt. Rushmore.    
            October 21, Friday evening, dedication of the new pipe organ.  Pastor Erickson led in a dedication of the organ, followed by a recital performed by concert organist William Boone.  The organ was built by Teller-Kent Organ Company of Eric. Pennsylvania,  It had over 1100 electromagnets, with 25 miles of copper and silver wiring.  The organ contained 1,386 pipes, the largest pipe being 16 feet long.  The smallest pipe had openings the size of a led pencil.
            December 2, Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile. 
            Portland's first municipal airport opened on Swan Island.
            To see photos and text of the new church building on NE 7th and Clackamas, Click Here.

1928
            Rev. J. Alfred Erickson was our pastor.
            February 11, the II Olympic Winter Games opened in St. Moritz, Switerland.
            April 22, An earthquake in Corinth, Greece destroys 200,000 buildings.
            May 11, Brother Andrew or Andrew van der Bijl was born in Sint Pancras, Netherlands.   He was also known as the God Smuggler.  He was famous for his exploits smuggling Bibles to communist countries in the height of the Cold War, a feat that has earned him the nickname "God's Smuggler. Brother Andrew studied at the WEC (World Wide Evangelisation for Christ)  in Glasgow, Scotland.
            May 15, The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia commences operations.
            May 15, The animated short "Plane Crazy" is released by Disney Studios in Los Angeles, featuring the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  See the relatives of the Mickey Mouse family.
            May 26, Jantzen Beach on Hayden Island, opens with four swimming pools, The Big Dipper roller-coaster, Fun House, the Skooter, Merry Mixup, Merry-go-Round, the Promenade and The Golden Canopy Ballroom.
            June 18, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic.
            July 28, The 1928 Summer Olympics officially opens in Amsterdam.
            November 6, In the U.S. presidential election Republican Herbert Hoover wins by a wide margin over Democrat Alfred E. Smith.
            December 21, The U.S. Congress approves the construction of Boulder Dam, later renamed Hover Dam.

1929
            Rev. J. Alfred Erickson was our pastor.
            January 15, Martin Luther King Jr. was born.  He died on April 4, 1868.
            March 4, Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States.
            March 24, Palm Sunday--See a Bulletin from the Sunday Service at the White Temple (First Baptist Church)  Also see a lesson card from the White Temple Sunday School curriculum, dated 1915.
            June 12, Anne Frank was born.  Known for the diaries she kept about her experiences in the Second World War, Anne Frank is a figure about whom books have been written and films and documentaries produced.  The diary she kept of her years spent hiding from the Nazis in the rear of a building divided into front and back sections has been translated into fifty-five languages.  The house, where Anne Frank penned the diaries that were discovered after her death, is Amsterdam's most visited museum-house, with a long line of people waiting to get in at every hour of the day.  She died in early 1945, at the age 15, in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, in Nazi Germany.
            June 26-30, Swedish Baptist Temple was host the first time to the Swedish Baptist General Conference.  The Conference was celebrating their 50th year at Temple.  Click Here to view a copy of the conference program.  (Most of it is written in Swedish)
            September 3, The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) peaks at 381.17, a height it would not reach again until November 1954.
            October 24, Black Thursday, the start of The Great Depression
            See the schedule for 1929 of Offices and Societies for the church.

1930
            Rev. J. Alfred Erickson was our pastor.
            March 22, Pat Robertson was born on this day.  His full name is Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson.  He is the founder of numerous organizations and corporations, including the American Center for Law and Justice, the Christian Broadcasting Network, the Christian Coalition, Flying Hospital, International Family Entertainment Inc. Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation, and Regent University.  He is the host of the 700 Club, a Christian Television program airing on channels throughout the United States and on CBN affiliates worldwide.  
            April 6, Hostess Twinkies are invented.
            August 9, Betty Boop premiers in the animated film "Dizzy Dishes."
            December 2, The Great depression:  U.S. President Herbert Hoover goes before Congress and asks for a US$150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.
            The Oregon Swedish Baptist Conference merged with the Washington Conference to form the Columbia Baptist Conference.
             Rev. A. H. Johnson remained as Conference Missionary until 1935.
             Population of Portland now 301,815.

1931
            Rev. J. Alfred Erickson was our pastor.
            January 1, Due to hard times, the church stopped paying a salary to all workers and Rev. Erickson agreed to deduct $40.00 per month from salary for 5 months.
            February 20, California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge.
            March 3, The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the United States National anthem.
            May 1, Construction of the Empire State Building is completed in New York City.
            May 15, Construction of the St Johns Bridge was completed, and the bridge was opened to traffic on June 13, 1931.  Click here for Website and Info of Portland's bridges 
            May 30, Swedish Baptist Temple held a Conference Concert 8:00 PM on Saturday.  Click here to view the copy of the original program.
            Gertrude Gustafson was Temple's church historian.
            Bethel Junior College begins with Walfred Danielson as dean.

1932
            Rev. J. Alfred Erickson was our pastor.
            February 4, The Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York.
            February 22, Today was the 200th birthday of George Washington.
            May 2, Comedian Jack Benny's radio show airs for the first time.
            July 2, Dave Thomas, owner of Wendy's Restaurants was born on this day.  He died in 2002.
            July 8, The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out at 41.22.
            July 30, The 1932 Summer Olympics open in Los Angeles.
            September 30, Pastor Erickson closed his work at Temple because of  bad health.
            November 8, U.S. presidential election:  Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Republican President Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory.
            Rev. Fredrik Linden was Interim Pastor.
            The Great Depression worsened.  Church was in danger of repossession.
            John P. Clum, Indian Agent died in Los Angeles.  See the website from The San Dimas Historical Society about this great hero of "The Old West."
            In 1932, radio station KTBR was sold to the Oregon Journal newspaper and the call letters were changed to KALE.  In December of this year, KALE moved to the mezzanine floor of the New Heathman Hotel at 344 Salmon Street, (now 712 SW Salmon Street).  KALE shared studios with new sister station KOIN,  In 1936, KALE began operation full time at 1300 killocycles.  The call letters were changed to KPOJ to represent its owner, the Oregon Journal. 

1933
            Rev. Fredrik Linden was Interim Pastor.
            January 5, Work began on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco bay.  The bridge opened on May 27, 1937.
            January 30, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.
            January 30, The Lone Ranger debuts on American radio.
            March 3, Mount Rushmore National Memorial is dedicated.
            March 4, U.S. President Herbert Hoover is succeeded by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in reference to the Great Depression, proclaims "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself" in his inauguration speech.  FDR is sworn in by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes,  It is also the last time Inauguration Day in the United States occurs on March 4.
            March 20, Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp is completed.  It opened March 22.
            March 23, The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, making Adolf  Hitler dictator of Germany.
            April 19, The United States officially goes off the gold standard.
            May 2, The first alleged modern sighting of the Loch Ness Monster occurs.
            July 6, The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
            August 14, Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn,  The smoke plume from the fire rose to 40,000 feet as the inferno raged across a 15 mile flame front.  The power of the fire created a hurricane force wind that uprooted trees and snapped them like matchsticks.  Nearby coastal cities were plunged into darkness at mid-day due to the thick, blinding smoke.  Ashes and cinders fell on ships 500 miles at sea.  It is extinguished on September 5, after destroying 240,000 acres.  Visit the Tillamook Forest Center.  
            October 12, The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz is acquired by the United States Department of Justice, which plans to incorporate the island into its Federal Bureau of Prisons as a federal penitentiary.
            November 11,  A very strong dust storm stripped topsoil from desiccated South Dakota farmlands in just one of a series of bad dust storms that year.  See May 9, 1934.
             November, Rev. Carl A. Olsson assumed the position of Senior Pastor at Temple.
            Refinancing of the church took place.
            The younger people wanted more English in the church services.  A vote was taken and members decided to hold on to the use of Swedish rather than adopting the wholesale usage of English in the church services.  One reason may have been the feeling that Swedish was more worshipful than English, and that the preaching should be understandable to the Swedish majority membership.  This caused part of the congregation to leave the church.  Gradually later in the1930's the language switched exclusively to English in the services.
           Radio services on KOIN were begun-"The Scandinavian Half Hour."
           Baptismal service at Temple on New Years Eve - Mr. & Mrs. Percy Seymour, Marjorie Rydman, Eileen Johnson,  Mrs. Carl Ostrom and Mrs. Haroldson were baptized.
           The U.S. Courthouse at Main and Broadway completed.
            The chocolate chip cookie is invented by Ruth Wakefield.
            Nazi persecution of Jews began during this year.

1934
            Rev. Carl A. Olsson was our pastor.
            January 1 - 7,  The Golden Jubilee of Swedish Baptist Temple.  The honor of being the only living charter member of the Swedish Baptist Temple at East Seventh and Clackamas Streets, Portland, was bestowed upon our Mother, Grandmother and Great-Grandmother, Mrs. Augusta Palmblad, when the church celebrated its Golden Jubilee.  Click Here to see notes written at a Palmblad clan meeting August 19, 1934.  (Taken from notes compiled by Harley Hallgren.)
    January 7, The panorama photograph shown below was taken of the congregation in front of the church as part of the Golden Jubilee celebration. 

            February 4, Baptized at Temple - Betty Hallgren, Margaret Anderson, David Carlson, Astrid Johnson, Delores Wickman.
            May 9, A strong two-day dust storm removed massive amounts of Great Plains topsoil in one of the worst such storms of the Dust Bowl.  The dust clouds blew all the way to Chicago where it deposited 12 million pounds of dust.  Two days later, the same storm reached cities in the east, such as Buffalo, Boston, Cleveland, New York City, and Washington DC.  That winter (1934-1935), red snow fell on New England.    
             May 28, Near Callander, Ontario, the Dionne quintruplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne, becoming the first quintuplets to survive infancy.
            June 1, Pat Boone, American actor and singer was born on this day.
            June 9, The animated short "The Wise Little Hen, directed by Bert Gillett for the "Silly Symphonies" series, and featuring the debut of Donald Duck, is released.
            August 19, The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.
            October 18, Chuck Swindoll, American evangelist was born on this day.
            November 27, Luis Palau, Jr. was born on this day.  He says that he was born again at the age of 12, devoting his life to Christ.  He is an international Christian evangelist living in the Portland area in the state of Oregon.  He was born in Argentina, began preaching at age 18, and moved to Portland in his mid-twenties to enroll in a graduate program in Biblical studies.  Palau first heard Billy Graham on a radio broadcast for Portland, Oregon while living in Argentina in 1950, and drew inspiration from him.  He later worked for Graham as a Spanish translator and as an evangelist.  In 1970, Graham contributed the seed money for Palau to start his own ministry, which he modeled after Graham's.  Since then, Palau has held many large-scale evangelistic festivals and gatherings around the world. 
          Read a copy of the 1934 Annual Sunday School Report originally written by Helen Tjernlund, SS Superintendent.

 1935
            Rev. Carl A. Olsson was our pastor.
            January 8, Elvis Presley was born on this date in Tupelo, Mississippi.  The family attended an Assembly of God church where he found his initial musical inspiration.  Elvis was one of the most popular American singer of the 20th century.  Elvis died on August 16, 1977.
            January 11, Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
            June 7, See pictures of the Baptist Sunday School Rose Festival Float in the parade.
            November 5, Parker Brothers releases the board game Monopoly.  It is the most commercially played board game in the world.
            Rev. Ole Larson succeeds Rev. A. G. Johnson as Columbia Missionary.
            Bible and Missionary Training School is transferred to Bethel Junior College as the Christian Worker's Course.

1936
            Rev. Carl A. Olsson was our pastor.
            February 14, Multnomah School of the Bible came into existence.  Rev. John G. Mitchell called a meeting of Portland, Oregon - area ministers and Christian businessmen to discuss an idea that consumed his thinking.  The Pacific Northwest, he was convinced, needed a school that would faithfully instruct men and women in the truths of God's Word.  Other men at this meeting shared Dr. Mitchell's vision.  Classes began the following October in a former mortuary with forty-nine students and a half-dozen faculty.
            March 28, William "Bill" Gaither was born on this day.  He is an American singer and songwriter of southern gospel and Contemporary Christian music.
            May 27, The British luxury liner RMS Queen Mary leaves Southampton of her maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.
            August 1, The 1936 Summer Olympics open in Berlin, Germany, and mark the first live television coverage of a sports event in world history.
            August 3, American athlete Jesse Owens wins the 100-meter dash at the Berlin Olympics.
            December 1, First time the minutes of Business Meetings were written in English.
            December 15, Rev. Carl A. Olsson closed his work as pastor of Temple.
            The Junior Parade became an official Rose Festival event.
            Emery A. Johnson becomes dean of Bethel Junior College.

1937
            C.A. Aldeen was interim pastor at Temple between 1936 & 1937.
            January 11, The first issue of Look Magazine goes on sale in the United States.
            January 19, Howard Hughes sets a new record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
            January 20, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes swears in Franklin D. Roosevelt for a second term.  This is the first time Inauguration Day in the United States occurs on that date, on which it has occurred ever since; the change is due to the ratification in 1933 of the 20th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
            February 21, The first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman's Aerobile, makes its initial flight.
            March, The first issue of the comic book Detective Comics is published in the United States.  Twenty-seven issues later, May 1939, Detective Comics introduces Batman.  The comic goes on to become the longest continually published comic magazine in American history' it is still published as of 2009.
             June 13, Temple celebrated its 10th Anniversary in the building on NE 7th and Clackamas.  See the Anniversary Program.
             July 12, Bill Cosby was born on this day.  He is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist.
             September 5,  Ned Holmgren to Bethel Seminary.  He was a pastor at various churches till 1973.
             Rev. V. E. Hedberg became Pastor.  He was the first American born Pastor in the churches history.
             Trackless trolleys were introduced in Portland.
           
1938
            Rev. V. E. Hedberg was our pastor.
            January 1, Ned Holmgren licensed to preach.
            January 3, The March of Dimes is established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
            February 4, Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first cell-animated feature in motion picture history, is released in the United States.
            February 24, A nylon bristle toothbrush becomes the first commercial product to be made with nylon yarn.
            June 28, The formal public dedication of the Swedish Historical Museum took place on this day.  The museum is located in Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
            June 30, Action Comics #1 is published, which is the first publication featuring the comic book character Superman.
            July 1, Our former pastor, Rev. John Alfred Erickson went to be with the Lord.
            July 18, Wrong Way Corrigan takes off from New York, ostensibly heading for California. He lands in Ireland instead.
            October 30, Orson Welles's radio adaptation of the "War of the Worlds" is broadcast, causing panic in various parts of the United States.
            Bonneville Dam was completed.  Commercial electricity began its transfer from the dam in this year.
            The Second World War started. 
            Congress passed a bill that each November 11, shall be dedicated to the cause of world peace and hereafter celebrated and known as Armistice Day.
            November 11, Kate Smith introduced the revised, "God Bless America" written by Irving Berlin, from her radio broadcast, "The Kate Smith Hour." 
            Dr. M. R. De Haan started the Detroit Bible Class  from a small radio station in eastern Michigan.  In 1956 they started producing the daily devotional, "Our Daily Bread."

1939
            Rev. V. E. Hedberg was our pastor.
            January 24, Ray Stevens, American musician was born on this day.
            May 28,  Written on the outside of the bulletin for today:  Today we bid welcome to our Pastor elect Rev. Linus Johnson, of Duluth, who visits us this day.
            June 19,  John MacArthur was born on this day.  View his website with all kinds of Biblical information.
            August 25, The church held a farewell reception for Pastor Victor Hedberg.
            September, Pastor Linus and Mrs. Johnson arrived with their children Earl and Marion.  Two other children were Beulah and George.  Beulah was in training at Midway Hospital, St Paul, and George was at Bethel Junior College.  Dr. Johnson came from Temple Baptist Church in Duluth, Minnesota.
            September 1, Germany invades Poland.  Some consider this day is when the first shots were fired in World War II.
            September 5, The United States declares its neutrality in World War II.
            September 8, Friday,  The church held a welcoming reception for our new pastor, Rev. Linus Johnson and his family.
            October 30, the church honored the Rev. and Mrs. Emanuel Bjorkquist and Mr. and Mrs. Gustav Hallgren in a joint celebration of their Golden Wedding anniversaries.
            Miss Helen Carlson started at Multnomah School of the Bible as a student.  Later became instructor.
            President Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving from the last Thursday to the third Thursday in November, to extend the Christmas shopping season.

1940
            Dr. Linus Johnson was our pastor.
            March 2, Cartoon character Elmer Fudd makes his debut in the animated short Elmer's Candid Camera.
            May 15, The very first McDonald's restaurant opens in San Bernardino, California.
            June 16, The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is held for the first time in Sturgis, South Dakota.
            July 1, The first Tacoma Narrows Bridge opens for business, built with an 8-foot girder and 190 feet above the water, as the third longest suspension bridge in the world.
            July 15, The Democratic Party begins its national convention in Chicago, and nominates Franklin D. Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term as president.
            July 27, Bugs Bunny makes his debut in the Oscar-nominated cartoon short, "A Wild Hare."
            September 16, The Selective Training and Service act of 1940 is signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt, creating the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.
            November 7, The Tacoma Narrows Bridge (known as Galloping Gertie) collapses in a 42-mile wind storm causing the center span of the bridge to sway.  When it collapses, a 600 foot-long design of the center span falls 190 feet above the water.
            The Baptist General Conference publication, "The Standard" was first published.
            Olympic Games are suspended due to World War II.

1941
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 20, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes swears in U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his third term.
            February 4, The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
            February 7, it was decided to use the name "Temple Baptist Church" in all publicity.
            March 22, The Army Air Force formed the first African American fighter squadron.  The personnel received their initial flight training at Tuskegee, Alabama earning them the nickname Tuskegee Airmen.  The squadron was originally tentatively scheduled to fly air defense over Liberia but was diverted to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations.  They were known as the "Red Tails".
            March 22, Washington's Grand Coulee Dam Begins to generate electricity.
            May 1, The breakfast cereal Cheerios is introduced as CheeriOats by General Mills. 
            May 12,  Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.
            October 23, Walt Disney's animated film Dumbo is released.
            December 7, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
            December 8, United States and Britain declare war on Japan.
            December 11, Germany declares war on the United States.
            Click Here to see the Honor Roll of names of people from our church who were in WW II.
            Congress permanently fixed the date of Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November.
            Miss Henrietta Carlson started at Bethel Seminary.  Later married Mr. Clifford Gustafson.
            Henry C. Wingblade is named president of the combined schools.

1942
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 26, First American forces during World War II arrive in Great Britain.
            May 22, The church debt paid.
            June, Mortgage due.
            June 21, Fort Stevens, Oregon is fired upon by a Japanese submarine.
            July 6, Anne Frank's family goes into hiding in an attic above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
            July 12, Sunday, the burning of the mortgage.  Click here to read an account by Harley Hallgren of the last days of the mortgage.
            July 30, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES).
            September 9, A Japanese floatplane drops incendiary devices at Mount Emily, near Brookings, Oregon, in the first of two "Lookout Air Raids," the first bombing of the continental United States.
            October 23, Name of our church changed from "Swedish Baptist Temple" to "Temple Baptist Church."
            October 28, The Alaska Highway is completed.
            December 1, Gasoline rationing begins in the United States.
            All services at Temple are now spoken in English.

1943
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 13, Helmut Schenk is the first person to use an ejection seat from an aircraft.
            January 15, The Japanese are driven off Guadalcanal.            
            January 15, The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
            February, See picture of group from Temple visiting Multnomah County Poor Farm as they did from time to time.   Edgefield Manor, as the facility is known today was built in 1911, served as the county poor farm where it was run as a self sufficient operation by the residents who worked in various forms of employment on the grounds.
            March 31, Rogers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma opens on Broadway, heralds a new era in "integrated" stage musicals, becomes an instantaneous stage classic, and goes on to be Broadway's longest-running musical up to that time.
            April 25, Easter occurs on the latest possible date.  The last time was in 1886 and the next time will be in 2038.
            June 27, The Clatskanie Church was organized.
            August 3, John F. Kennedy's PT-109 is rammed by a Japanese destroyer.
            September 19, Bethel Baptist Church in St. Johns was organized.
            December 4, The Great Depression officially ends in the United States, with unemployment figures falling fast due to World War II-related employment.
             Miss Lois Sorley was called from Wisconsin to assist Pastor Johnson in visitation work.     
            Sunday School for war worker's children was established in the St. John's area.

1944
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            February 19,--Click Here to read letter from Mrs. Bjorkquist to Harley Hallgren.
            June 6,  Today was known as D-Day with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France.  This was the largest amphibious military operation in history.  This operation helped liberate France from Germany, and weaken the Nazi hold on Europe.
            June 17, Iceland declares full independence from Denmark.  
            October 8, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio show debuts in the United States.
             October 10, Methodist Deaconess Home located near N.E. 25th and Flanders was purchased and  organized and became the Oregon Baptist Retirement Home.
             October 19, The Oregon Baptist Retirement Home was organized and became a corporation.
             See photo of Temple Baptist Church Congregation on front steps.
             At Chicago's Orchestra Hall, Billy Graham, a little-known suburban pastor led the first rally of Youth for Christ.
            Columbia Conference accepted responsibility for the Sunday School in St. John's.  Henrietta Carlson, (Mrs. Clifford Gustafson), was licensed for the ministry and sent to be the first leader-pastor of this work.  This Sunday School was soon to become Bethel Baptist Church.

1945
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 1, Temple had their 61st anniversary dinner.  See List of 40 year and older members.
            January 27, Soviet troops enter the Auschwitz Concentration Camp complex and liberate 7,000 prisoners, including children.
            February, Rev. William Tapper, Director of Young People and Sunday School work in the General Conference was with us and held fine spiritual meetings.
            February 23, A group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Surabachi on the island of Iwo Jima and are photographed raising the American flag.  
           April, In the latter part, Rev. Victor Larson, a great powerful preacher, from Elim Church in Seattle spent "Four Great Days" with us.
            April 12, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies suddenly at Warm Springs, Georgia; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes the 33rd President.
           May, The Methodist Deaconess Home (which became The Oregon Baptist Retirement Home) was purchased.
            May and June, Bernie Wennermark was Junior Rose Festival Prime Minister.
            May 5, A Japanese balloon bomb kills five children and a grown woman, Elsie Mitchell, near Bly, Oregon, when it explodes as they drag it from the woods.  They are the only people killed by an enemy attack on the American mainland during World War II.
            May 8, Victory in Europe, as Nazi Germany surrenders (V-E Day) commemorates the end of World War II in Europe, as Nazi Germany surrenders.
            June 11-22, Daily Vacation Bible School was held under the supervision of Miss Lois Sorley.
            July 1, work was started on remodeling of the Oregon Retirement home.
            July 4, The church had its annual picnic at Peninsula Park.
            July 9, A forest fire breaks out in the Tillamook Burn; third in that area since 1933.
            July, Dr. Arthur I. Brown, physician, radio minister and scientist was with us.
            July 11-15, Eugene Johnson, Lloyd Nordstron and Harold Carlson three young men from Bethel Seminary, gave inspiring talks, colored chalk drawings, and vocal selections.
            August 6, A United States B-29 Superfortress, the Enola Gay, drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan.
            August 9, A United States 2-29 Bomber, the Bockscar drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
            August 5-12, Faith Bible Camp was held at Columbia City Fair Grounds.
            August 14, V-J Day  It was announced in Hawaii that the Japanese have surrendered to the United States.
            September 2, Japanese sign the surrender agreement aboard the USS Missouri--- V-J Day (Victory over Japan).
            October 2-7, We had "five great days" with Rev. Alphin Conrad from Ballard, Seattle.  
             November, A special Thanksgiving service was held on Thanksgiving evening with Dr. Bob Jones of Tennessee.
             December 2, Dedication of the Oregon  Retirement Home and welcome for 1st Superintendent, David M. Anderson.
             December 31, the church had a membership of 333.
             Bethel Seminary's name becomes "Bethel College and Seminary."
             See photo of Temple Choir.
             See the Honor Roll of names of people from our church, members and friends,  who served in the military in WW II.
             This year the Swedish Baptist General Conference dropped the "Swedish" designation from their official name.
             The first and second floors including the custodians quarters were painted.
             Miss Lois Sorley was the church missionary.  She did a splendid job of solicitation of new members for the Sunday School and church.  The church bulletin was mimeographed by Miss Sorley.
             Mr. Earnest Hanson was the church clerk.
             Mr. Harley Hallgren was chairman of the Deacon Board.
             Merril E. Morgan was the Secretary and Treasurer of the Deacon Board.
             Hildur Strandberg was Secretary and Treasurer of the Deaconess Board.
             Mr. Ewald Anderson was chairman of the Trustee Board.
             Mr. Ernie Johnson was Secretary of the Trustee Board.
             Mr. and Mrs. Martin Wennermark were custodians.
             Read an account of the Scandinavian Half Hour for this year.
             Mrs. Ninian Westerlund was chairman of the Music Committee.
             Mr. Arthur B. Carlson was Director of Radio Broadcasts.
             Miss Maydora Westerlund was Treasurer of the Mission Committee.  The following Missionary speakers were heard at various meetings of the church:  Rev. Harold Hetter, of the International Christian Leper Mission, Rev. William Tapper, Dr. Arthur I. Brown, Rev. Dan Ganstrom, Mrs. Ulrich, temporary director of the Christian Service Men's Center, Miss Joy Ridderhoff, Mr. B. N. Hicks of the Anti-Liquor League, a representative of the African Inland Mission, Rev. William Hagstrom and Rev. Warren Johnson.
            Viola Anderson was president of the Senior Young People's Society, Maydora Westerlund was vice president, Betty Hallgren was corresponding secretary, Phyllis Rydman was recording secretary.  The treasurer was Stanley Christiansen and assistant treasurer was Ralph Rydman.
            Billy Graham drew 70,000 at Chicago's Soldier Field; began touring United States as Youth for Christ field representative.
            The school's name is changed to Bethel College and Seminary.
 
1946
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 10, The first meeting of the United Nations is held in London, England.
            January 11, John Piper was born on this day in Chattanooga, Tennessee to bill and Ruth piper.  He is a preacher and author, currently serving as Pastor for Preaching and Vision of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  
            January 12, The Baptist Youth Fellowship had its annual meeting.
            April 10, a memorial service was held for Lt. Henry George Carr who was killed in action in the South Pacific.
            May, the decision was made to purchase property for Lake Retreat.
            Rev. Gordon Carlson succeeds Ole Larson as Columbia Missionary.
            July 4, The church held its annual picnic at Peninsula Park.
            August 9, Hildur Strandberg's parents celebrated there 50th wedding Anniversary.  See picture of them along with friends from Temple.
            The ladies purchased and put up draperies through out the church.
            The lower auditorium was painted.
            The church received a concert grand piano donated by Mr. and Mrs. George Strandberg and Mr. and Mrs. F. G. Salstrom.
            The church received an oak pulpit in memory of Mr. Alferd Johnson and Mr. Sven Larson, by their wives.
            A week after Easter, Rev. Vick was speaker at special services.
            October, Rev. Axel Anderson from Turlock, California led us in studies from the book of Jonah.
            People from Western Baptist Seminary, Multnomah School of the Bible spoke at different times during the year, as did the Gideon's, Rev. Turnwall, and Rev. Taggart.
            December 1, the church had 345 members on it's records.
            Seven boys and girls were led to the Lord at Vacation Bible School.
            The deacons were invited to attend the Golden Wedding Anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Loydgren.
            The Trustee Board reported that the church has been painted.
            The church purchased the residence next door on the south side of the church.  Address of the residence was 1319 NE 7th Avenue.
            December 25, Temple had a Christmas Juletta Service.

1947
             Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
             Walter Anderson was elected Camp Director at Lake Retreat.
            April 1, Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball professional signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
            May 2, The movie "Miracle on 34th Street," a Christmastime classic, is first shown in theaters.
            June 28, Mr. and Mrs. George Strandberg celebrated 25 years of marriage.
            July 1, the church had an anniversary celebration for Mr. and Mrs. George Strandberg.
            August 2, Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft, the Kon Tiki, smashes into the reef at Paroia in the Tuamotu Island after a 101 day, 4,300 mile, voyage across the Eastern Pacific Ocean, proving that pre-historic peoples could hypothetically have traveled to the Central Pacific islands from South America.
            October 14, The United States Air Force test pilot, Captain Chuck Yeager, flies a Bell X-1 rocket plane faster than the speed of sound, the first time that this has been accomplished in level flight, or climbing.
            November 2, Aircraft designer and pilot, Howard Hughes performs the maiden flight of the Spruce Goose, the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built.  The flight lasted only eight minutes and was never flown again.  The plane is now housed in the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum at McMinnville, Oregon
            The house next door to the church was remodeled for a comfortable dwelling for the Pastor and his family.
            David Carlson entered Bethel Seminary.
            Rev. Carl Olsson, former pastor of the church went home to be with the Lord.
            Miss Lois Sorley left the church and moved to another mission field.
            Chairman of the Deacon Board was Mr. Joseph Westling.
            Secretary/Treasurer was Mr. Ivar Nordquist.
            A Shepherd boy fines some clay jars in a cave at Qumran.  In one was discovered the book of Isaiah.  The book is now housed in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem.  See 134-104 BC 
            Bethel College Launches a four-year program; C. Emmanuel Carlson is dean.  

1948
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 30, The Winter Olympics opened in St. Moritz, Switzerland.  This is the first Winter games since 1936.
            February 1, The Soviet Union begins to jam Voice of America broadcasts.
            March 8, The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violates the U.S. Constitution. 
            May 14, The Declaration of Independence of Israel is made.  The new Jewish state named the State of Israel had been formally established in parts of what was known as the British Mandate of Palestine and on land where, in antiquity, the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah had once been.
            May 15 - July 18, Part of the 1948 Arab Israeli war.  The City of Jerusalem has been laid siege during the the above mentioned days and also twelve other times (according to the information I have) since 925 BC.  (1) 925 BC, (2) 701 BC, (3) 597 BC, (4) 587 BC, (5) 63 BC, (6) 70 AD, (7) 614 AD, (8) 637 AD, (9) 1099, (10) 1187, (11) 1244, (12) 1917, (13) 1948.     
            May 30, 4:05 PM, the Columbia River had its biggest flood of the century.  Thirty people perished in what came to be known as the Vanport Flood.
            April, a series of meetings were held by Rev. Gordon Hasselblad.
            June 11, The first monkey astronaut, Albert I, is launched into space from White Sands, New Mexico.
            July 10, the annual picnic was held at Peninsula Park.
            July 20, President Harry S. Truman issues the second peacetime military draft in the United States, amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union (the first peacetime occurred in 1940 under President Roosevelt).
            July 29, The Summer Olympics begin in London, the first since 1936.
            August 1, Holy Communion service at Lake Retreat.  Six hundred - seventy two in attendance.
            September, God's Invasion Army was formed and started with 35 post high school youth.
            October, A series of evangelistic meetings were held by Rev. Edwin Swanson.
            November 2, U.S. presidential election-Democrat incumbent Harry S. Truman defeats Republician Thomas E. Dewey.
            November 9, The Boy's Christian Service Brigade was started and was sponsored by The Men's Brotherhood.  Mr. Dave Johnson was Captain, Mr. Ray Lott, Dr. Evans Nelson and Mr. Dwight Hanson were lieutenants.  There were 14 boys enrolled.  Outings were enjoyed; a hike near Mt. Hood, Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge, Frog Lake near Mr. Hood, Camp Meriwether and a hike around Tillamook Head.
            Harriet Norr succeeds Miss Lois Sorley as Church Missionary.  Miss Norr worked with other helpers in conducting a successful  Daily Vacation School and had an average attendance of 50 children.  
            A new 1948 Dodge 4 door sedan was presented to Senior Pastor Dr. Linus Johnson.
            A children's hour after Sunday School was just started.  Children ranging from 4-9 years old were included.
            The Cradle Roll department met in the room behind the balcony.  Large plate glass windows were placed in the wall so workers could see the services as well as a sound system so the service could also be heard.
            The mission in St. John's Woods is shepherded by Rev. and Mrs. Glenn Nordquist.
            The Senior Pastor, Dr. Linus Johnson turned in a resignation to the church, but the church asked him to reconsider, which he did.
            Mr. Ernie Johnson was chairman of the Board of Trustees and Mr. Norm Ryberg was secretary.
            The average church attendance was 219.

1949
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 17, The first Volkswagen Beetle to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought to New York by Dutch businessman Ben Pon.  Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sample car to pay his travel expenses.  Only two 1949 models will be sold in America that year, convincing the Volkswagen chairman that the car has no future in the U. S. (The VW Beetle goes on to become the greatest automobile phenomenon in American history.
            February 29 - March 6, God's Invasion Army visited.
            Spring, Miss Henrietta Carlson married Mr. Cliff Gustafson.
            April 1, Érie Leaves the British Commonwealth and becomes the Republic of Ireland.
            April 18, Érie formally becomes the Republic of Ireland.
            May 11, Israel is admitted to the UN as its 59th member.
            May 29,  the radio ministry was discontinued.
            June 24, The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, airs on NBC. 
            July 16, the annual church picnic was held at Peninsula Park. 
            August, Mr. Louis Pilbeam, the Temple Choir director resigned.  Mr. Harvey Flansberg became the new choir director.
            November 9-11, The Berlin Wall was breached.
            Bethel Baptist Church in St. Johns, joined the Columbia Baptist Conference.
            New Dining Hall ready for use at Lake Retreat.
            Pastor Linus Johnson went to Sweden for two years.
            Harriet Norr was church missionary and youth director.
            The church acquired a parsonage.
            Sunday School Superintendent Merrill Morgan, his wife Jane and family left Temple and resettled at Lakeside Baptist Church in Oakland,  California.
            Oregon Baptist Retirement Home Manager, Mr. and Mrs. David Anderson left for Eugene, Oregon.
            Mr. Carl Ostrom was the church Financial Secretary.
            Billy Graham--A much publicized Los Angeles "crusade" made him evangelism's new superstar.

1950
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 23, The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
            February 8, Payment first made by Diners Club card, in New York, first use of a charge card.
            Click Here to see a Oregon Journal, Mr. Fixit article written by Harley Hallgren.
            June 27, U.S. President Harry S. Truman orders American military forces to aid in the defense of c
            August 8, Florence Chadwick swims across the English Channel in 13 hours, 22 minutes.
            September 4, About 25,000 people attended the closing service of a six-week revival at Multnomah Stadium (now PGE Park).  Total attendance was estimated at 600,000. (From the notes of Harley K. Hallgren)
                October 2, The comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz is first published in 7 U.S. newspapers.
            November 5, Billy Graham brought together a talented team to form the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and initiated a radio program, "The Hour of Decision."
            November 22, Shirley Temple announces her retirement from show business.

1951
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January, Levi A. Lovegren, Baptist missionary from Cherry Grove, was arrested in Red China for "espionage."  They have been missionaries for the Baptist Church since 1917.  See 1888
            January 9, The new United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City.
            January 18, Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
            February 27, The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
            March 12, Hank Ketcham's best-selling comic strip Dennis the Menace, appeared in newspapers across the U.S. for the first time.
            May 26, Sally Ride, American astronaut was born on this date.
            June 18, Battle Ground, Washington is incorporated.
            July 14, In Joplin, Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument to honor an African American.
            September 30, see the bulletin for this Sunday services.
            October 15, I Love Lucy made its television debut on CBS.
            November 10, Direct dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins in the United States.
            Herbert Lawrentz, Seminary student, serves as Director of Youth Work at Temple.
            The current Apostles Creed or An Affirmation of our Faith was adopted by the Baptist General Conference.  Click here to read a copy of it.
            Billy Graham--held a meeting in Portland for one night.
            Closed up this year, the Hotel Portland met the wrecking ball of “progress” on a quiet autumn day in 1951. After it was razed, a parking lot for Meier & Frank was built in its place.  The two level parking structure was demolished thirty years later when Pioneer Courthouse Square recaptured the magic of the block, becoming the heart of the city. Once again thousands of people are drawn to the block daily.

1952
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            February 14 - 25, The Winter Olympics was held in Oslo, Norway.
            April 15, The United States B-52 Statofortress flies for the first time.
            April 17, President Harry S. Truman signed a bill proclaiming a National Day of Prayer must be declared by each following president at an appropriate date of his choice.  In 1988, the law was amended so that the National Day of Prayer would be held on the first Thursday of May.  A stated intention of the National Day of Prayer was that it would be a day when adherents of all great religions could unite in prayer.
            June 15, The Diary of Anne Frank is published.
            July 14, Franklin Graham, American Christian evangelist and missionary, the fourth of five children of Billy and Ruth Bell Graham was born on this day.
            July 19 - August 3, The Summer Olympics are held in Helsinki, Finland.
            November 4, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democrat  Adlai Stevenson for President of the United States. 
            Perry Hughes, Seminary student, succeeds Herbert Lawrentz as Director of Youth Work at Temple.

1953
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 20, Dwight D. Eisenhower succeeds Harry S. Truman as President of the United States.  
            May 3, 3:00 pm, Sunday,  With the help of Temple,  Glisan Street Baptist Church was organized.  The Western Baptist Seminary Quartette and the Warren Dale Quartette sang.  Rev Bror Lundgren, Rev. Gordon Carlson and Dr. Linus Johnson spoke briefly.  The Dedication Message was brought by Dr. Linus Johnson.  Dedication Prayer was spoken by Rev. Anderson.  The gathering was held in the new church building.  
            June 30, The first Chevrolet Corvette is built at Flint, Michigan.
            December 30, The first color television sets go on sale for about $1,175 USD.
            Rev. Herbert Lawrentz was unanimously chosen Student Body President at Western Seminary in Portland, for the year 1953-54.

1954
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 21, The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut, by First Lady of the United States - Mamie Eisenhower.
            April 4, Loma Vista Baptist Church in Spokane, Washington was organized.
            May 1, The Unification Church is founded in South Korea.
            May 6, Roger Bannister runs the first four-minute mile.
            June 14, The words "under God" are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance.  
            July 1, The United States officially begins using the international unit of the nautical mile, equal to 6,076.11549 ft. or 1,852 meters. 
            August 6, Temple Baptist Church voted to buy their first Sunday School Bus.
            September 3, The last new episode of The Lone Ranger is aired on radio, after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years.
            October 18, Texas Instruments announces the development of the first transistor radio.
            November--Perry Hughes becomes Christian Education Director.
            November 3, The first Godzilla movie premieres in Tokyo, Japan.
            November 10, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington National Cemetery.
            November 12, The main immigration port-of-entry in New York Harbor at Ellis Island closes.
            November 23, The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 3.27 points, or 0.86%, closing at an all-time high of 382.74.  More significantly, this is the first time the Dow has surpassed its 1929 peak level reached just before that year's crash.
            December 1, The first Hyatt Hotel, The Hyatt house of Los Angeles, opens.  It is the first hotel in the world built outside of an airport.
            December 4, The first Burger King opens in Miami, Florida, USA.
            The TV dinner is introduced by the American entrepreneur Gerry Thomas. 
            Temple help start McLoughlin Heights in Vancouver, Washington, now known as New Heights.
            Billy Graham--International rallies in London were extended to12 weeks and drew more than 2 million people.
            Carl H. Lundquist becomes president of Bethel College and Seminary. 

1955
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 28, United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Formosa from the People's Republic of China.
            May 5, West Germany becomes a sovereign country recognized by important Western foreign countries, such as France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
            July 12, Read the note given to Harley Hallgren about the old pulpit that was given to the church by Mrs. John Nordell and was made by her father, Mr. P.M.  Holst, one of the charter members of Temple.
            July 17, The Disneyland Theme Park opens in Anaheim. California.
            August 27, The First edition of the Guinness Book of Records is published in London.
            September 10, The long-running program Gunsmoke debuts on CBS-TV network.  
            October 3, The Mickey Mouse Club TV program debuts on the ABC-TV network in the United States.  
            December 1, Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person, and the national civil rights movement begins.  
            Dr. Linus Johnson visits Sweden.

1956
            Dr. Linus Johnson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 8,  Nate Saint and four others were killed on Palm Beach in Ecuador while attempting to evangelize the Waodani people through efforts known as Operation Auca.  See August 30, 1923.
            January 26, The Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d'Ampezo, Italy.
            February 22, Elvis Presley enters the United States music charts for the first time, with "Heartbreak Hotel."
            March 2, Dr. Linus Johnson dies on way home from church.
            Rev. Ellis E. Eklof, Sr., answered the call to be our Pastor.
            March 12, The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 500 for the first time rising 2.40 points, of o.48%, to 500.24.
            June 10, The Summer Olympics, Equestrian events open in Stockholm, Sweden (all other events are held in November in Melbourne, Australia)
            June 29, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Federal Aid Highway Act, creating the Interstate Highway System.
            July 12, Sandi Patty, American gospel singer was born on this date.
            July 24, At New York City's Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together (their act started on July 25, 1946).
            July 24, Mr. Frank Voth ordained.
            July 30, A Joint Resolution of Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing "In God We Trust" as the U.S. National motto.
            August 1, Steve Green, American Christian musician was born on this day.
            September 9, Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.
            September 13, The hard disk drive is invented by an IBM team.
            October 8, Baseball pitcher Don Larsen of the New York Yankees throws the only perfect game in World Series history in Game 5 against the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Yogi Berra caught the game. Dale Mitchell was the final out.  The New York Yankees won the series, Larsen was named the MVP.
            October 22, Suez Crisis:  Britain, France, and Israel secretly meet and make plans to invade Egypt.
            October 29, The Huntley-Brinkley Report debuts on NBC-TV.
            November 3, The Wizard of Oz, is shown on television for the first time by CBS.
            November 6, Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Adlai E. Stevenson in a rematch of their contest 4 years earlier.
            November 22, The Summer Olympics begin in Melbourne, Australia.

1957
            Rev. Ellis Eklof Sr. continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 13, The Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee.
            January 20, Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States.
            March 1, Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat is published.
            March 10, Floodgates of The Dalles Dam were closed, inundating Ceilio falls and ancient Indian fisheries along the Columbia River.
            May 3, Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley agrees to move the team from Brooklyn, New York to Los Angeles, California.
            June 26-30, Temple Baptist Church was host the second time to the 86th Annual meeting of the Baptist General Conference.  The picture below is of the attendees to the conference taken on the front steps of the church.

This picture was copied from the July 12, 1957 issue of the "Standard"

1958
            Rev. Ellis Eklof Sr. continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 8, 14-year-old Bobby Fisher wins the United States Chess Championship.
            April 6, Easter Sunday - See Bulletin for the Easter Program, Easter Service and the rest of the week.
            April 6, With the help of Temple,  Calvary Baptist Church near West Linn was organized.
            April 15, The San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-0 at San Francisco's Seals Stadium, in the first Major League Baseball regular season game ever played in California.
            July 7, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into United States law.
            July 29, The U.S. establishes NASA to administer scientific exploration of space.
            August 3, The nuclear powered submarine USS Nautilus (SSN-571) becomes the first vessel to cross the North Pole under water.   
            June Peretti was appointed Temple's church organist.
            Bethel College is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

1959
            Rev. Ellis Eklof Sr. continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 3, Alaska becomes 49th state
            January 18-25, Temple held the Seventy-Fifth anniversary celebration since founded in 1884.  See the Anniversary Program.
            February 3, A chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, The Big Bopper and  Roger Peterson the pilot, goes down in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all 4 occupants on board. 
            February 16, Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.  
            March 18, American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.
            April 9, NASA announces its selection of 7 military pilots to become the first U.S. Astronauts (see Mercury Seven).
            April 25, The St. Lawrence Seaway linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.  
.            July 8, Charles Ovnand and Dale R. Buis become the first Americans killed in action in Vietnam.
            July 19, The Johnson Lodge at Lake Retreat was dedicated
            August 7, An explosion at Roseburg, Oregon kills 14 and causes $12 million worth of damage.
            August 14, Explorer 6, a United States satellite sends the first picture of Earth from space.
            August 21, Hawaii becomes the 50th state.
            October 2, Rod Serling's classic anthology series The Twilight Zone premiers on CBS Television.
            November, See photo of Temple Choir.

1960
            Rev. David G. Danielson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 2, U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA) announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
            January 9-11, The Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt.
            January 22, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh descend into the Marianas Trench in the bathyscaphe Trieste, reaching the depth of 10,916 meters and become the first human beings (and so far the only) to reach the lowest spot on Earth.
            February 1, In Greensboro, North Carolina, four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter.  Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter.  Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same counter.  A section of the lunch counter from the Woolworth store is now preserved in the Smithsonian Institution at the National Museum of American History.
            February 18, The Winter Olympic Games are held at Squaw Valley Ski Resort, in Placer county, California.
            March 6, The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers will be sent to Vietnam.
            May 1, A Soviet missile shoots down an American Lockheed U2 spy plane; the pilot Francis Gary Powers is captured.  He is later sentenced, in Moscow, to 10 years in prison.
            May 10, The nuclear submarine USS Triton, under the command of Captain Edward L. Beach, Jr., completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the Earth.
            August 1, The newly built Lloyd Center in Portland opened.  It then consisted of 100 stores.
            August 25, The Summer Olympics open in Rome, Italy.
            September 26, The 2 leading U.S. presidential candidates, Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy, participate in the first televised presidential debate.
            October 12, Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a table at a United Nations General Assembly meeting.  
            October 14, John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps.
            November 8, U.S. Presidential election:  In a close race, John F. Kennedy is elected over Richard M. Nixon, becoming (at 43) the second youngest man elected President.
            November 30, Production of the DeSoto automobile brand ceases.
            December 12, The Holy Bible in Spanish (the Reina-Valara 1960 Revision) is published.

1961
            Rev. David G. Danielson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            April 12, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space.
            April 24, The Swedish ship Regalskeppet Vasa is removed from the water after being sunk 333 years earlier.  
            May 5, Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard Mercury Redstone 3.
            July 1, Diana, Princess of Wales was born on this day.  She died August 3, 1997.
            July 21, Gus Grissom, piloting the Mercury-Redstone 4 capsule Liberty Bell 7, becomes the second American to go into space (sub-orbital).  Upon splashdown, the hatch prematurely opens, and the capsule sinks (it is recovered in 1999).
            August 13, Construction started on The Berlin Wall.
            December 11,  The Vietnam War officially begins, as the first American helicopters arrive in Saigon along with 400 U.S. personnel. 
            Robert Wagner was Youth Pastor at Temple.
            The Office/Gym Addition was built.  Architect was Lawrence Supove.
            John F. Kennedy was President of the United States.
            The Baptist General Conference votes to relocate Bethel College and Seminary.

1962
            Rev. David G. Danielson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 1, The United States Navy SEALs are activated.
            January 4, New York City introduces a subway train that operates without a crew on board.
            February 20, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes in Friendship 7, Project Mercury.  
            March 2, Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a single NBA basketball game.
            June 25, The United States Supreme Court rules that mandatory prayers in public schools are unconstitutional.
            June 28, The United Lutheran Church in America, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, American Evangelical Lutheran Church, and Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church merge to form the Lutheran Church in America.
            July 2, The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
            July 10, AT&T's Telstar, the world's first commercial communications satellite, is launched into orbit, and activated the next day.
            October 1, Johnny Carson takes over as permanent host of NBS's Tonight Show, a post he would hold for 30 years.
            October 12, The infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with wind gust up to 170 mph.
            November 1, The United States Post Office Department issued its first Christmas stamp in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Customers had requested such a stamp for years, Postmaster General  J. Edward Day said during the stamp dedication ceremony, adding that the stamp would be the first in a series of Christmas stamps.
            November 3, The term "personal computer" is first mentioned by the media.
            November 20, The Cuban Missile Crisis ends.
            November 21, Steven Curtis Chapman was born.  Chapman is a devout Christian, and as of 2010, he has been married to Mary Beth Chapman (they had the same last name prior to their marriage) for more than 25 years.   
            November 30, the youth center or Christian Education Wing on south side of Temple was dedicated (includes classrooms, gymnasium, custodian's apartment).
            December 14, U.S. spacecraft Mariner 2 flies by Venus, becoming the first probe to successfully transmit data from another planet.          
            Jim Spickelmier worked with the youth during the summer.
            Click Here to see pictures of ground breaking ceremony for the 3 story addition on the West side of church..
            Miss Marjorie Olson was church office secretary and Missionary Visitor.

1963
            Rev. David G. Danielson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            February 8, Travel, financial and commercial transactions by U.S. citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy Administration.  
            March 21, The Alcatraz Island federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay closes; the last 27 prisoners are transferred elsewhere at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. 
            March, "Lift" program of General Conference stimulated missionary and general giving.
            April 1, The long running soap opera General Hospital debuted on ABC.
            May 1, The Coca-Cola Company debuts its first diet drink, Tab cola.
            May 15-18, The Columbia Baptist Conference convened in Portland for the annual meeting.
            June, Jim Spicklemier, a Bethel student serves at Temple, as Youth Pastor.  He worked with the youth during the summer. At the end of the summer he left for New York for training with the Peace Corp.
            June 16, Vostok 6 carries Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman, into space.
            June 17, The U.S. Supreme Court rules that state-mandated Bible reading in public schools is unconstitutional.  Abington School District v. Schempp
            June 22-26, The annual meeting of the Baptist General Conference was held in Vancouver BC.
            July 1, ZIP Codes are introduced in the U.S.
            July 5, The Roman Catholic Church accepts cremation as a funeral practice.
            July 19, American test pilot Joe Walker, flying the X-15, reaches an altitude of 65.8 miles, making it a sub-orbital space flight by recognized international standards.  
            August 8, The Great Train Robbery of 1963 takes place in Buckinghamshire, England.
            August 28, Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to an audience of at least 250,000, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 
            September 7, The Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio with 17 charter members.
            September 15, The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed killing 4 children and 22 other children were injured.
            November 22, President John F. Kennedy was killed (assassinated) by a sniper's bullet in Dallas, Texas while riding in an open motorcade. Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded, and Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson becomes the 36th President.  All television coverage for the next three days is devoted to the assassination, its aftermath, the procession of the horse drawn casket to the Capitol Rotunda, and the funeral of President Kennedy.  Stores and businesses shut down for the entire weekend and Monday, in tribute.

1964
            Rev. David G. Danielson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 1, Temple Baptist Church is 80 years old.  Click here to view part of the souvenir program.
           January 10, Temple held its anniversary dinner and was attended by some 350 guests.  Dr. Virgil Olson of Bethel College and Seminary was the special speaker of the dinner.  Dr. Olson is Historian for the Baptist General Conference and a cousin to Pastor Dave Danielson.  The theme of the anniversary was, "To God Be The glory, Great Things He Hath Done!"  Mrs. Velma Rydman and Mrs. Minnie Rydman were especially honored having been members since 1903.
            January 11, United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous to one's health (the first such statement from the U.S. government).
            January 17, John Glenn announces that he will seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from Ohio.
            January 18, Plans to build the New York World Trade Center are announced.
            See 1964 photo of Church Lay Leaders.
            January 19-26 --Missionary Conference was held with Rev. Carl Lachler from Brazil, Rev. Marwin Lindstedt from the Philippines, Rev. S. Lindberg and Rev. Dale Bjork from Japan.
            January 22,--Mrs. George Nelson (Esther Salstrom) passed away after a long illness.
            February 9, The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, marking their first live performance on American television. 
            February 25, Muhammad Ali beats Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Florida, and is crowned heavyweight champion of the world.
            February 27, The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
            March 9, The first Ford Mustang rolls off the assembly line at Ford Motor Company.
            March 30, Merv Griffin's game show Jeopardy! debuts on NBCMarch 30 – Merv Griffin's game show Jeopardy! debuts on NBC; Art Fleming is its first host.
            April 25, Thieves steal the head of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark.
            May 14-16—Pastor Dave Danielson was elected Moderator for the 75^th Anniversary meeting of the Columbia Baptist Conference which was held at the Central Baptist Church of Seattle.
            August 17,  The Forestry Building burnt to the ground.  See the year 1905.
            October 10-24, The Summer Olympics are held in Tokyo.
            Pastor Dave Danielson was senior Pastor with Bud Malmsten assistant to the pastor.
            During this time 1734 people have been added to our fellowship. This is an average of 21 people per year. The number this year was 30, or 9 above average.
            Mrs. F.G. Salstrom was recording secretary.
            Evelyn Smith was Financial Secretary.

1965
            Rev. David G. Danielson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            Mr. Dale Peretti was chairman of the Christian Education Board and Mr. Bert Johnson was Sunday School Superintendent
            January 23-28,--Annual Missions Conference was held with Rev. Francis Sorley of Japan, Miss Arlene Coleman from Ethiopia, Rev. Gil Anderson from Ethiopia, Miss Marjorie Malm of Ethiopia, Rev. Don Goldsmith from Brazil, Rev. Gerald Osbron of The Philippines, Miss Grace Swanson of Assam, and Miss Betty Person of Assam.
            February 15, Canada adopted their present National Flag.
            March 2, The movie version of Sound of Music was released.
            May 16, --Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Johnson celebrated 50 years of marriage.
            May 30, Memorial Day Weekend, 52 of our members formed work teams and helped make needed repairs to the buildings at Lake Retreat Campground.
            August 15 to 20,--Daily Vacation Bible School was held at the church. Dr. C.W. Slemming of England spoke.
            September 20—a group of ten members of God’s Invasion Army arrived to begin a two week visitation program with our church members.
            Mr. and Mrs. Henning (Josi) Johnson were custodians at Temple..
            Oregon designated the thunder-egg (geode) as the official state rock after the rockhounds of Oregon voted it as their first choice.
            Missions week included Dr. Paul Finlay of Bethel College, Rev. Wesley Lindblom of the Columbia Conference, Rev. Francis Sorley of Japan, Miss Arlene Coleman of Ethiopia, Miss Margorie Malm of Ethiopia, Rev. Irwin Bjelland, of The Philippines, Bill and Grace Anderson of Ethiopia, Miss Grace Swanson of Assam, Miss Betty Person, of Assam and Rev. Gerald Osbron of the Philippines.
            New Years Eve, a slide show was presented before the Watch Night Service called, “Temple: 1965 A Year in Review.”
            Young men in the military include:  Bob Davis in Germany, Mark Hagey in Kentucky, Gary Huff in Texas, Mike Herdener in Alaska, Ron Wright in Texas, and Ric Bailey in California.
            Len Johnson, Greg Anderson, and Klaus Siemieniec are all attending Bethel, the most ever at one time from Temple.
            Bethel College and Seminary moves to the new Arden Hill campus in St. Paul.

1966
            Rev. David G. Danielson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            Bud Malmsten was the Assistant Pastor.
            May 25, U.S. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall dedicate the Gateway Arch, in St. Louis, Missouri.
            June 1, The final new episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show airs 9the first episode aired on October 3, 1961.)
            June, Bethel Baptist Seminary in Stockholm celebrated 100 years since its beginning.  Our first pastor, Rev. Gustaf Liljeroth was a graduate.
            September 8, Star Trek, the classic science fiction television series, debuts with its first episode, titled "The Man Trap."
            October, The Toyota Corolla car was introduced.
            November 8, Actor Ronald Reagan, a Republican is elected Governor of California.
            December 15, Walt Disney dies while producing The Jungle Book, the last animated feature under his personal supervision.  He was 65 years of age when he died.
            December 22, Arthur B. Carlson died.
            The Christmas Choir appeared in new choir robes.
            Exterior of the church building was painted.

 1967
            Rev. David G. Danielson continues in his pastoral role at Temple.
            January 15-22, World Missions Week brought 4 missionaries to Temple:  Rev. Herman Tegenfeldt - Ragoon, Burma, Rev. Clem Walbert - Japan, Rev. David Sperry - Ethiopia, Rev. Nils Friberg -  Brazil.  The Rev. Cliff Gustafson represented the Columbia Conference.
            March 14, The body of U.S. President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery.
            April 7, Start of the Six Day war.  Israeli fighters shoot down 7 Syrian MIG-21s.  The actual war took place on June 5th and June 10th.
            April 9, The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series takes it maiden flight.
            May – At the annual meeting the church voted to sell the parsonage and apply the proceeds to the building loan for the Youth Center.
           May 28—A reception was held at the Oregon Baptist Retirement Home to honor the retirement of Mr. and Mrs. Walferd Johnson, the Home Administrators. Mrs. Linus Johnson stepped in during the summer as Supervisor.
            August 1, Israel annexes East Jerusalem.
            August 30, Thurgood Marshal is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
            September 3, H-Day in Sweden: At 5:00 a.m. local time, all traffic in the country switches fro left-hand traffic pattern to right-hand traffic.
           September—Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Ronne and Karry Sue were welcomed to the Oregon Baptist Retirement Home as administrators.
            October 2,  The U. S. Supreme Court installed its first black judge, Thurgood Marshall.
            November 7, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 
            December 11, The Supersonic airliner Concorde is unveiled in Toulouse, France.