History of St. Charles' Parish


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Easter in 1949 was on the 17th of April and there were over 50 in attendance. In May we learned that there was a chance that a Seminarian who was about to graduate, might be available to us in the Fall. In June Fr. Holt reported that St. Marks had installed a new organ and if we wanted the old one they would be glad to give it to us. We accepted and for the time being it was stored in the Green's garage. (I can't remember a thing about that organ, who played it, or what became of it when we moved to the new building.) 

In July arrangements were made and Mr. Liebrecht agreed to come to us, first as a Seminarian and later as Deacon-in-Charge and finally as Priest-in-Charge. We were fortunate that the upstairs of the church, with certain improvements, would provide living quarters for the Liebrechts when they moved to St. Charles. Also in July we were able to furnish the church with pews. It seems that Liz Carpenter's home church in Kenosha was getting new pews and she was able to have them give the old ones to us. I think her father was the Senior Warden at the time or had been. 

In September Mr. Liebrecht held his first service on the 18th exactly one year and four days after the organizational meeting with the Bishop. The Liebrechts finally moved out early in November. At the November Finance Committee meeting a budget for 1950 of $5,500.00 was adopted. The Christmas Eve Service this year had seventy persons in attendance. 

I am not sure of the reason, but at the last meeting of the Finance Committee in 1949, both Marion Simpson and Julia Whitmar presented their resignations. In their place the Bishop appointed Bruce Griffin, Caleb Shera and Martin Davison. It is significant that it took three men to replace two such capable women. 

In March discussions began about acquiring a site and building a new church. It was felt that the most desirable location in town was the corner across from the hospital and plans were made to see what could be done. These culminated in a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Norris of these lots. I believe the only condition was that the building should harmonize with the hospital. As some of you will remember, at that time there was a two story house on the corner and plans were made to fix it up so the Liebrechts could move in. Finally in August and September a Building Fund Campaign was begun. By the end of the year the pledges, cash etc. totaled $34,311.00. Building plans had been prepared and accepted and it was time to ask for bids. 

During the latter part of 1950 we had all been busy with building plans and all the associated details. But unfortunately we were also troubled with a more unpleasant subject. As I reported above, Fr. Liebrecht came to us before he was ordained and still in Seminary. Unfortunately, his authoritarian attitude led to a clash of personalities, many meetings with the Bishop and to his eventual resignation presented to the Finance Committee at its meeting on 27 February 1951. 

I will not attempt to describe in detail the various meetings, discussions etc. that occurred during the next month or so, but simply say that at a meeting on 26 April 1951 it was decided to award a contract to build the church to Lamp Construction Co. for $59,000.00. At the time the Building Fund totaled $34,514.38. The old Church was put on the market and was sold for $15,000.00. The Ground Breaking was held on Sunday the 13th of May 1951, Just three years after the Bishop had pledged his support to the new Mission.