The new Church had been completed during the preceding year, and had
been dedicated by Rev. Drs. Eddy and Ives on the Sabbath before
Conference, Oct. 8th, 1871. The building is a fine brick structure, one
hundred feet in length by eighty in width at the transepts. Besides the
auditorium, it has a large lecture-room, three parlors, a Pastor's
study, a library room, and a convenient kitchen. The entire cost of
buildings and grounds, including the Parsonage, was sixty thousand
dollars. At the dedication subscriptions were obtained to meet the
indebtedness of twenty thousand dollars with a satisfactory margin.
The new year opened with all the Church appliances in vigorous
operation. The class and prayer meetings were well attended, and the
intervening evenings were occupied by the meetings of the Ladies' Aid,
the Literary and other Church societies. The Sunday School, under the
superintendence of Rev. Edwin Hyde, was in a flourishing condition,
ranking, doubtless, as one of the most numerous and successful schools
of the city.
The Milwaukee District was now in charge of Rev. C.D. Pillsbury, who
entered the Maine Conference in 1843. He filled the following
appointments in that Conference: Dover, Atkinson, Sagerville, and
Exeter. At the division in 1848, he fell into the East Maine Conference,
where his appointments were Machias, Summer Street, Bangor, Agent of
East Maine Seminary, and Presiding Elder of Bangor District. He was
transferred to the Wisconsin Conference in 1857, and stationed at Racine
as the writer's successor. His subsequent appointments have been Racine
District, Chaplain of the Twenty-Second Regiment, Beloit, Agent of the
Freedmen's Aid Commission, Janesville District, and Milwaukee District.
After leaving the District Brother Pillsbury has been stationed at Bay
View and Menasha, but, his health failing, he took a supernumerary
relation at the last Conference, and at this writing is residing at
Minneapolis. He has done considerable literary work, in connection with
his Ministerial labors. Brother Pillsbury has a well balanced mind, and
is thoroughly versed in the great questions of the day. He is sound in
theology and faithful in administration; a good, strong Preacher, and is
universally respected, both as a man and a Minister.
Asbury Church was greatly delighted with the return of Rev. W.W. Case to
its pastorate. He entered the Erie Conference in 1859, and in that
Conference he had been stationed at Ellington, Cattaraugus, and Little
Valley. He was transferred to the Wisconsin Conference in 1864, and had
now been stationed three years each at Edgerton and Beloit. During his
year at Asbury, he had gathered a fine congregation, and was now in
great esteem among the people. He remained three years at Asbury, and
was then stationed at Division Street, Fond du Lac, where he is at the
present writing, serving the second year.