Plymouth Magazine-Fall26-DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 19
City Progress Forces a Move
In 1924, Plymouth Church was forced
to move when the city condemned
the downtown site for the purpose of
building Keosauqua Way, a street that
would connect downtown to Beaverdale
and the city’s northside neighborhoods.
The final services at 8th and Pleasant were
on Easter Sunday in 1925. The site is
now occupied by the Principal Financial
Group complex.
Razing a 22-year-old building, described
as “one of the most magnificent churches
in the city,” was a challenge, emotionally
and financially, for Plymouth members.
The Board of Trustees, after numerous
conferences with downtown business
leaders, agreed upon a selling price
of $190,000, reserving the privilege
of removing furnishings and fixtures,
including the organ.
In the meantime, Greenwood and
Plymouth churches agreed to merge
congregations. Committees from both
churches investigated sites for a new
location, and settled on the John Cownie
estate at Ingersoll Avenue and 41st to 42nd
streets on the western edge of the city.
The estate included a home described
in a church pamphlet as “one of the
best constructed homes in the city and
admirably adapted to the requirements
of a Community House.” The property
was purchased for $65,000.
Des Moines Register clipping from March 15, 1927,
as the church was under construction.
Setting of the cornerstone at 42nd Street and Ingersoll Avenue in December 1926.
L to R: Martha Frisbie, Rev. Burtis MacHatton, and the building committee chair, Harry G. Wallace.
A building committee visited churches
in a number of cities and recommended
a structure similar to Plymouth Church
in Minneapolis and First Central Church
in Omaha. The original architects were
Proudfoot, Rawson and Souers, aided by
Dougher, Rich and Woodburn as associate
designers. Construction began in May
1926 and was largely completed by 1927.
The Rev. Burtis MacHatton and an
energetic building committee led by
Harry G. Wallace, organized a major
fund-raising campaign to finance the
project. The final cost of the church
was $480,692.
While construction was underway,
services were held at Greenwood Church
at 35th Street and Grand Avenue. At
completion of the new church, Waveland
Congregational at 1117 42nd St. (now
the site of a Muslim Community Center)
also merged with Plymouth and the name
was changed from Plymouth Church to
Plymouth Congregational Church.
Martha Frisbie at the dedication of
Plymouth Congregational beside the pulpit chair
commissioned by the Rev. Frisbie in 1876.
Plymouth Magazine 19
