Congregationalists help to shape early Hannibal

The Map, 1869 Bird’s Eye View of Hannibal, shows the location of the original First Congregational Church constructed in 1860. Old Town Block 115, lots 7 and 8, South Hannibal. Library of Congress.

Note: In recent weeks, this column has offered profiles of former members of Hannibal’s First Congregational Church, who participated in an opera, during 1878/79,  to generate revenue for the church organ or mortgage fund. This week, this column focuses on the early church itself, and the lasting impact its members had on Hannibal’s early development.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

During the second half of the 19th century, a significant number of Congregationalists migrated from western New York and New England to Hannibal.

The Congregationalists - early offshoots of the Presbyterian faith - believed in autonomy of the individual church - rather than a central governing board. Congregationalists, of this era, elected their church elders, and each church in turn chose its own pastor.

Milton Knox, a native of Massachusetts, was at home in Hannibal by mid-year, 1850. In August 1859, he issued a call-out in the Hannibal Daily Messenger. He was testing local interest in the establishment of a Congregationalist Church in Hannibal, which would be only the second to be built in the state. Response was such that an organizational meeting was called for Nov. 4, 1859, in the basement of the Second Presbyterian Church, southeast corner of Fifth and Church streets.

Knox was joined on a planning committee by J.T.K. Hayward, a native of Massachusetts, John B. Davies, a native of Pennsylvania, and H.W. Farley, a native of Virginia. The Rev. S.H. Emery of Quincy, Ill., a native of Massachusetts, was invited to address this meeting.

Plans for the new church moved forward rapidly. By mid-March 1860, an architect, Cornelius A. Treat, a native of New York state, had drawn up plans for the new church building, and Mr. Sproul*  had been contracted for construction of the building.

(*In 1866, John and Andrew Sproul, brothers, were living in Hannibal, operating a grocery store in Wardlaw’s Addition. In an advertisement in the Hannibal Daily Messenger of March 16, 1860, ‘A. Sproul’ was seeking “four good stone masons” to work on the new church building.)

Architect

Thirty-one year old Cornelius A. Treat, married with two young sons, was working as a railroad contractor in Hannibal in 1859-60. He drew the plans for the proposed Congregational Church, to be constructed on the southwest corner of Jefferson and Fourth (later renamed Sycamore) streets, in South Hannibal.

The announcement that Mr. Treat’s drawings were selected was made in the March 11, 1860, edition of the Hannibal Daily Messenger.

Mr. Treat, the newspaper opined, “deserves much praise, not only for his taste, but for combining neatness and substantiality with cheapness.”

The plans called for a rectangular building, 60 feet in depth, 41 feet in width, and 20 feet in height, to be constructed in Old Town Block 115, lots 7 and 8, South Hannibal.

The adjoining lots measure 140 feet deep and 66 feet wide.

According to an article in the March 11, 1860 edition of the Hannibal Daily Messenger, the building was to be “set on a solid stone foundation of three feet high, the outside will be ceiled with close, jointed, matched, depressed flouring (sic), painted and sanded, the cornice will project three feet, ornamented with brackets and other tasteful decorations.

“It will contain four rows of pews, and calculated to seat four to five hundred people. The pulpit will be neat and handsome as also the inside, finish generally.”

(The Hannibal Daily Messenger, in its July 26, 1861 edition, a year after the church first opened, reported: “We have been requested to give notice that the pews in the Congregational Church will be rented for the ensuing year, ending July 1, 1861, at the Church edifice this, Friday evening.”)

The building faced eastward, situated to take advantage of the vista view of the Mississippi River. The new church building was dedicated at “2 1-2 p.m.” on June 28, 1860. The first minister was Julian M. Sturtevant Jr., a native of Illinois.

Rev. Sturtevant was married to Katie Hayward in mid December 1861. The bride was the daughter of the aforementioned J.T.K. Hayward, an early organizer of the Hannibal congregation. Rev. Sturtevant’s father was, at the time, a primary at Jacksonville College, Jacksonville, Ill.

The church building would serve the rapidly growing congregation for 10 years, before talk began about the need of a larger, more centrally located church edifice. Even after the church itself relocated to Sixth and Lyon streets, the South Hannibal site continued in use as the Sabbath School.

Church ‘Pic Nic’

During the first year of its establishment in South Hannibal, the congregation took part in an outing at “Mr. Lakenan’s beautiful grove” calculated to be in the unincorporated community named Lakenan, located in Shelby County. The event took place in early October, 1860, according to a notice in the Hannibal Daily Messenger.

Robert F. Lakenan, a Hannibal attorney, served on the original board of directors for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company, along with Z.G. Draper and E.M. Moffett of Marion County. 

Lakenan was a large land holder in Shelby County, and the town of Lakenan was named in his honor:

“So named in honor of Hon. Robert Lakenan, a practicing attorney in Hannibal, influential in the building of the road and author of the charter. Mr. Lakenan was a large landholder in the vicinity as well, and was a member of the State Legislature from Shelby County, 1876-1883.”  Source: Elliott, Katherine. "Place Names of Six Northeast Counties of Missouri." M.A. thesis., University of Missouri-Columbia, 1938.”

At the outing, the Rev. William Hanley, a Methodist Episcopal North minister from Hannibal, led those in attendance in singing the hymn, “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.”

The train was  scheduled to leave Hannibal at 10:30 a.m., and return at 6 p.m. Tickets for the excursion were $1 for adults, and 30 cents for children.

The completion date for for the Hannibal and St. Joseph line from Hannibal west to the Missouri River was Feb. 20, 1859.

2nd Treat building

While the original First Congregational Church building has long since been demolished, an example of Mr. Treat’s architectural work still stands in Hannibal.

In May of 1860, C.A. Treat completed a drawing and diagram for the new three-story brick building to be constructed on the southwest corner of what is now the intersection of Main and Center streets. 

The Daily Messenger of May 30, 1860, opined: “The drawings are splendid specimens of art, and at once, place Mr. Treat in the foremost ranks of American architects. The buildings are to be built out of pressed brick, and when finished, will be one of the most beautiful and magnificent edifices to be found in this or any other city. The Messenger offices will occupy the second and third stories, and the block will be known as the “Messenger Buildings.”

In 2025, that building, at 125-127 N. Main, owned by Gary and Tamera Dittmer, houses Rumor Has It Bar and Grill.

In 1876, C.A. Treat established the C.A. Treat Manufacturing Co., successor to the Queally foundry which was located at the corner of Eighth and Collier.

C.A. Treat (1828-1900) was architect for the First Congregational Church, which was constructed in 1860 on the southwest corner of Jefferson and Fourth streets, (Sycamore) South Hannibal. Photo furnished by Richard Treat, a descendant of C.A. Treat.

The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad timetable was published in the Hannibal Daily Messenger on Jan. 5, 1858. (newspapers.com)  At the time of the publication, the road itself was only completed to Carbon, located 9 miles west of Clarence. The route was projected to be complete, from the Mississippi to the Missouri River, by Feb. 20, 1859.

Mary Lou Montgomery retired as editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include but are not limited to: "The Notorious Madam Shaw," "Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,”  and “St. Mary’s Avenue District.” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com