Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/530

 450 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY and consecrated the new church. The entire cost of the church, church lot, furnishings, etc., was $2,967. Of this, about $401 was contributed by friends in the East. The services in the old church, now used as a parish house, were of more than ordinary- interest on the ordination of Rev. C. P. Dorset, in 1860, the con- vention services of 1861, the ordination, in 1865, of Rev. H. C Batterson to the priesthood and of Rev. S. P. Chandler to the deaconate, and the service for the first company of volunteers that enlisted in Red AVing for the Avar. In the summer of 1868 it was felt that the growth of the parish made the building of a larger church edifice an absolute necessity. In the autumn of that year work was commenced on the new building in accord- ance with plans furnished by Henry Dudley, of New York. D. C. Hill, of this city, contracted to do the carpenter work, except the seats.- the contract for which was let to E. Simmons. G. A. Carlson was given the contract for the stone work. The corner- stone was laid June 24. 1869, on which occasion, in addition in Bishop Whipple and a number of clergymen of the diocese, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Armitage, of Wisconsin, was present and made an address. The consecration of the church took place December 19, 1871, and services have been conducted there ever since. The church cosl about $23,000. Us walls are twenty inches thick. The rectorship of Dr. Welles lias been the longest in the history of the parish. During the sixteen years of his residence in Red Winy', besides building up around him a strong and vigorous parish, his work reached into the surrounding towns and villages. In Wabasha, Lake City, Belle Creek, Zumbrota. Pine Island and Prontenac parishes were organized and churches built under his supervision. His rectorship ended only with his elevation to the episcopate as bishop of Wisconsin, September 27, 1874. Bishop AYelles was succeeded as rector of Christ church by the Rev. George W. Watson, D. D.. who had been his friend and classmate at Hobart College. Dr. AYatson's rectorship lasted ten years. During this time the same characteristics of strong, conservative development marked the parish life as at first. Many things were added to the church in the way of substantial improve- ments. A new altar was set in the chancel, the gift of Judge E. T. Wilder. The pipe organ was placed in the church in March, 1880, and the present rectory was purchased in 1881. At the close of Dr. "Watson's rectorship the parish was possessed of a property valued at $36,000. The parish grew steadily in com- muicants until about the year 1879, when the exodus from Red AVing began and continued so persistently that when Dr. Watson resigned, in 1885, in spite of large numbers confirmed every year, the communicants numbered 196, but six more than he found ten years before. AVhen Dr. AVatson resigned and went to Smeds-