Trinity United Methodist to mark 50 years on Sunday
This Sunday will mark one of the highlights of Trinity United Methodist Church's yearlong celebration of its 50th anniversary. Current and former pastors and members will gather for a daylong celebration at the church, located at 605 W. Golf Road, Mount Prospect.
Sunday will mark 50 years -- to the day -- since Trinity held its formal organizing service, according to Janice Farley, co-chairman of Trinity's anniversary committee.
"All of the Methodist families in this area were traveling to other towns to worship in the 1950s," Farley explained.
But with the building boom after World War II, the Methodist conference for this area decided to establish more churches. So they looked favorably upon a request from a group of Methodist families from Mount Prospect to establish a church here.
The first meeting about such a church was held in the home of Charles and Doris McClellan on Nov. 25, 1957. The congregation's first vespers service was held about three months later in the Mount Prospect village hall. The Methodist church in Des Plaines loaned them candlesticks, a cross and an offering plate for the occasion and donated hymnals and choir robes to the new church.
Soon afterward the congregation, led by Pastor Donald Thomas, began meeting regularly in Lincoln Junior High and later in 1958, they bought 4.5 acres of the August Froemling farm on the south side of Golf Road Road for the princely sum of $37,500.
By September 1960, their first church had been built on the Golf site and the congregation moved in, formally processing down Na-Wa-Ta Avenue from Lincoln Junior High to the new church on Sept. 11, 1960.
An education wing was added three years later and the current sanctuary was occupied in March 1972. Various other renovations have occurred over the years including the addition of a new nursery and hallway closer to the sanctuary in 2000 and the repair of roof damage to the education wing, done during the historic August 2007 storm.
Over its 50-year history, Trinity has had 10 different pastors, Farley said. Their current pastor is Dan Swinson. Four of those previous pastors, including Donald Thomas and Kirk Reed, will speak during Sunday's celebration. In addition, the church's choirs will perform and a large luncheon will be served.
Other elements of the year-long anniversary will include a children's play in June, golf outing in August, bell concert in September, quilt show in October, fine arts show in November and the annual Mount Prospect Community Band concert in December, Farley said.
London Knights campaign:ŒAs you may or may not know, 270 musicians and singers from Prospect High School's choir, orchestra and marching band have been invited to participate in London, England's New Year's Gala Concert and New Year's Day parade. The choir and orchestra will perform in the concert and the marching band will perform in the parade.
To raise funds for the trip, music students will perform and accept donations from 6:30 to 8 a.m. today at the Mount Prospect Metra station and they will hold simultaneous fundraising events from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, at multiple sites in Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights.
Band, orchestra and choir students will perform for donations at 20 different locations including Caribou Coffee, 90 E. Northwest Highway; Kohl's, 1500 S. Elmhurst Road; and the Dominick's at Golf Road and Route 83.
Donations will defray the cost of their trip. In fact, the group is hoping to raise $20,000 with these scattered site performances. And if you don't plan to stop by any of those locations and still want to help, tax-deductible donations can be mailed to PBB-London Knights, P.O. Box 63, Mount Prospect, IL 60056.
Electric Boogaloo finale:ŒThe local garage band sensation known as Electric Boogaloo will perform its final local show from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday in the garage level of the Mount Prospect Public Library, 10 S. Emerson St. The show is free, but registration is requested at (847) 253-5675 or www.mppl.org/events.