The new Church had been completed during the preceding year, and had been dedicated by Rev. Drs. Eddy and Ives on the Sabbath before Conference, Oct. 8th, 1871. The building is a fine brick structure, one hundred feet in length by eighty in width at the transepts. Besides the auditorium, it has a large lecture-room, three parlors, a Pastor's study, a library room, and a convenient kitchen. The entire cost of buildings and grounds, including the Parsonage, was sixty thousand dollars. At the dedication subscriptions were obtained to meet the indebtedness of twenty thousand dollars with a satisfactory margin.
The new year opened with all the Church appliances in vigorous operation. The class and prayer meetings were well attended, and the intervening evenings were occupied by the meetings of the Ladies' Aid, the Literary and other Church societies. The Sunday School, under the superintendence of Rev. Edwin Hyde, was in a flourishing condition, ranking, doubtless, as one of the most numerous and successful schools of the city.
The Milwaukee District was now in charge of Rev. C.D. Pillsbury, who entered the Maine Conference in 1843. He filled the following appointments in that Conference: Dover, Atkinson, Sagerville, and Exeter. At the division in 1848, he fell into the East Maine Conference, where his appointments were Machias, Summer Street, Bangor, Agent of East Maine Seminary, and Presiding Elder of Bangor District. He was transferred to the Wisconsin Conference in 1857, and stationed at Racine as the writer's successor. His subsequent appointments have been Racine District, Chaplain of the Twenty-Second Regiment, Beloit, Agent of the Freedmen's Aid Commission, Janesville District, and Milwaukee District.
After leaving the District Brother Pillsbury has been stationed at Bay View and Menasha, but, his health failing, he took a supernumerary relation at the last Conference, and at this writing is residing at Minneapolis. He has done considerable literary work, in connection with his Ministerial labors. Brother Pillsbury has a well balanced mind, and is thoroughly versed in the great questions of the day. He is sound in theology and faithful in administration; a good, strong Preacher, and is universally respected, both as a man and a Minister.