Services In Dixon

CLASS CONFIRMED AT DIXON STATE SCHOOL Oct. 5, 1965

Correspondence on file reveals that as early as 1936 members of this congregaŽtion resident in and about Dixon raised the question of starting a Mission there. Nothing came of this, however, because the area pastors serving the Dixon State School on a part-time basis feared such a move might eliminate them from the scene. In 1938 their appeal to the Lutheran Hour for help was also blocked by the same men. At the very first quarterly congregational meeting conducted in July, 1940 by Pastor Mueller after the acceptance of the call, he proposed that the congregation ask the Northern Illinois District to survey Dixon with the thought of starting another church there. This received the enthusiastic support of the voters.

In spite of efforts made by these same men to prevent the project, the District Mission Board recognized the need and opportunity and called the Rev. Daniel Wenz of Iuka in 1941 to start a dual ministry there. He was called to "establish and serve a mission and also serve Lutheran patients at the Dixon State SchooL" Once again the opponents sprang into action. They painted such a gloomy picture of prospects for development that the Mission Board reversed itself (to avoid adŽditional problems at this point, obviously) and placed Pastor Wenz in the Chicago Chinatown Mission instead.

The Sterling congregation continued to support the cause through its Pastor, so the Mission Board sponsored in 1942 a partial canvass of Dixon with the help of River Forest students under the Rev. A.T. Kretzmann's direction. Amazingly, the results were negative, so nothing happened.

When World War II broke out and people started moving into the area to work at the Green River Ordinance Plant, requests for Missouri Synod services in Dixon started all over again. Wartime restrictions on driving had something to do with this. The Congregation resolved this by applying for a Vicar, who could assist the Pastor in conducting services in Dixon. Second Avenue Lutheran paid Student Gerhard Schmidt's salary; the District Mission Board assumed the other expenses. Services were initiated in the I.O.O.F. Hall above a store at 12411:2 Galena Avenue ($5.00 per Sunday) in September 1943. The project ground to a halt 11 months later when the key families moved to Sterling and/or back to South Dakota. It was a matter of too little and too late. The miss-ion should have been started in the 1930's or earlier.

Will a sister parish ever be located in Dixon? We still hope so. Pastor Mueller has sought to keep the issue alive. Because of Messiah's commitments to Rock Falls and Walnut, she could not enter the field alone. A District sponsored study of the area by Missionary Frank Hennessey advised the Mission Board April 1966 of the wisdom of acquiring" an advance site in the N.W. area." Nothing has come of this to date.