Spencer Memorial Methodist Church
At a conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church for this district,
held during the month of September, 1900, J. B. Rutter, the pastor of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, at Milan, asked the Elder and the Conference
for the privilege of organizing a church in the Edgewood Park district,
between the cities of Rock Island and Moline, and this permission was
granted to him, and on the 25th day of April, 1901, he and his wife, Ella
Alter Rutter, organized a Sunday school, with Mr. Rutter as pastor and
Miss Maud Maxwell secretary. On June 5, he organized a society known as
the Edgewood Park Ladies' Aid. Mrs. M. E. Leverich was elected president,
Mrs. J. A. Pauley vice-president and Mrs. Ella Alter Rutter secretary. On
the 7th day of October, 1901, at a meeting called for that purpose, the
following persons-David J. Sears, S. J. Ferguson, W. E. Scott, J. A.
Pauley, Andrew Olson, James Gauley and T. C. Nutter-organized themselves
into a board of trustees, and elected J. A. Pauley secretary., J. B.
Rutter, the pastor, gave the name of Spencer Memorial Methodist Episcopal
church
This organization then adopted the Sunday school as above organized, and
the Ladies' Aid Society above organized, and together they became the
congregation of the Spencer Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church.
During the time of the completion of this organization, J. B. Rutter
received a donation of two lots from Mr. Frank Robinson, now deceased, and
on October 23, 1901, the Ladies Aid Society undertook to put a foundation
of the new church upon the lots at the corner of Forty-third Street and
Seventh Avenue, and the corner stone of this foundation was Iaid On
Thanksgiving day, 1902. The church, Sunday school and Ladies' Aid Society
were holding their meetings at a little chapel, known as the Old Swede
Church, at the corner of Third Street and Fourth Avenue, in Moline. On
October 25, 1.903, through the energy and ingenuity of J. B. Rutter, the
church proper had been erected and finished upon the foundation laid by
the Ladies' Aid Society, and dedication services were held amid a great
demonstration. The people of Edgewood Park district together with other
generous minded people of Rock Island and Moline, placed the church
organization in a position to do legitimate church business. The building
and foundation, together with the expenses of obtaining the same, had cost
over $20,000, and this enormous debt hanged over the new organization
unprovided for until September 8, 1907, for while through the efforts of
the pastor, J. 13. Rutter, the church building had been placed in position
and the congregation well organized, yet it remained for the conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, held during September, 1906, to provide a
man in the person of W. P. MacVey, to systematize and provide for the
raising of the enormous church debt. The new pastor, who replaced J. B.
Rutter, succeeded in placing this debt in a manageable form, and now at
the last conference held during the month of September 1907, the Reverend
W. P. MacVey was replaced by F. E. Shult, the new pastor. The pastorate of
J. B. Rutter extended from September, 1901, to September, 1906-five years.
Until March 31, 1905, he had by his side, Ella Altar Rutter, his wife, and
to her in great measure is due the tireless energy and effort required in
the organization, management and building of this church. On March 31,
1905, she died, leaving as her monument Spencer Memorial Methodist
Episcopal Church. The name, Spencer, is in honor of a well known citizen
by the name of William Spencer.
Since its organization the church has gained in each of its departments,
the Sunday school has increased from a membership of ten to a membership
of over two hundred. The Ladies' Aid Society has increased from a
membership of thirteen to a membership of seventy-five. The church has now
a member-ship of one hundred and eighty-one regular affiliated members,
and in the leadership of our new pastor, F. E. Shult, the people of the
Spencer Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church expect to accomplish great
things for Methodism in the Edgewood Park district.
Churches of Rock Island County
Source: Historic Rock Island County, pub. Kramer & Company, Rock Island, Illinois, 1908