Page 159 - Grace150 Devotional

McWilliams—suggested getting permission from the owners to use one of the
coaches temporarily until a meeting place could be built.
Permission was granted, and on Saturday,
March 1,1862, the Fourth Ward Mission School
held its first meeting. McWilliams was elected
the first superintendent. Nineteen children
attended that first day.
Over the next several weeks, many more
children came, and they had to add a second coach. The railcars were used for
four months, during which time the YMCA acquired the land and means to build
a permanent meeting place: a 28-by-40-foot building situated at the intersection
of Clay, Adams, and Green Street.
In the winter of 1863, the workers at the mission
school started having evangelistic services at night
to reach the adults of the community. One of those
present at the time, John C. Weis, later recalled,
“When we held preaching services on the corner of
Adams and Clay, the crowds around the saloon would
jeer at us, but we kept right on preaching. We held
Sunday morning prayer meetings on Water Street for
outcasts, preaching in the jail and workhouse, and
cottage prayer meetings around the homes of the First building at Clay and
people who lived in that part of the city.” Green Streets (1862)
The evangelistic work continued, with little fruit until the spring of 1866. At that
time, an evangelist named Edward Payson Hammond held meetings in the city,
and a great revival followed his work. The Saturday evening services increased in
attendance, and by the winter of that year over fifty adults were converted. This
led directly to the formation of the church over the next several months.
On Friday evening, May 1, 1868, Grace Presbyterian Mission Church was
organized by order of the Presbytery of Peoria. Fourteen members transferred
from the First and Second Presbyterian churches, and thirty more became
members on profession of faith as part of the fruit of the revival of 1866. By this
time, D. W. McWilliams had moved back to New York, so the work was carried
on by a local businessman named George H. McIlvaine.

devotions for the journey A-2