This is a reprint of a “From the Local History Room” column that first appeared in February 2014, before the launch of this weblog.
The Salvation Army arrives in Pekin
By Jared Olar
Library Assistant
No doubt when most people hear the words “Salvation Army,” the first things that will come to mind are bell-ringers and red kettles at Advent and Christmas time. After that, they’ll think of the organization’s many charitable activities in service to the community. The Salvation Army of Pekin has a heritage of community service that reaches back more than a century. In fact, this year the Pekin Corps of the Salvation Army will celebrate its 131st anniversary.
As an international organization, the Salvation Army traces its origins to a movement started in England by a Methodist preacher named William Booth (1829-1912). In 1865, Booth and his wife Catherine founded the Christian Revival Society in London’s East End, seeking to bring a Christian message of salvation to the poor and needy. Booth summed up their mission with the words, “If a man is hungry, feed him – cold and tired, shelter him – Give him what he needs, a bed, a job, a meal or a warm coat. But most of all give him understanding, and belief in himself. Help him help himself.”
Booth and his wife later renamed their group “the Christian Mission,” but in May 1878, Booth conceived the idea of identifying himself and his supporters as “a salvation army” and giving the ministry a military-style organization, complete with uniforms and flags.
According to the 1974 Pekin Sesquicentennial, pages 17-18, the Pekin Corps of the Salvation Army was founded in 1889. The Pekin Corps’ own historical records also affirm that 1889 was the year of the corps’ founding, though the Dec. 17, 1932 edition of “The War Cry” reprinted an old photograph of the Pekin Corps that the caption says was taken in 1886.
Here is the brief account of the Pekin Corps from the 1974 Sesquicentennial volume:
“A Salvation Army founded in 1889 and the Union Mission established in 1895 also aid in ministering to the religious needs of the community . . . The Salvation Army located in a building on Court Street when it first came to Pekin, but in 1943, the organization moved to the present site at 239 Derby. Since that time, a great deal of expansion has taken place. The most recent addition, now under construction, will house a community outreach program, directed especially toward youth and senior citizens. Supported in part by the United Fund because of its many non-denominational services to the community, the Salvation Army is also a church in its own right, and presently has about 70 members under the leadership of Captain and Mrs. Robert C. Arthur.”
The Pekin Corps’ historical records include a list of commanders, assistants and other officers. Heading the list as the founding commander is “Capt. Curry,” stated to have received his official appointment in June 1889. However, the same list says the Salvation Army had officially opened in April of that year.
That is also mentioned in a brief historical essay, “One Hundred Years of Caring and Sharing, 1889-1989: An Introductory History of the Salvation Army in Pekin, Illinois,” written by “Phyllis Wright, Soldier.”
Wright says, “The Salvation Army ‘opened fire’ in Pekin in April 1889, and established its first citadel at the foot of Court Street in a building owned by Mr. Al Rosenberg. The meetings were held in the basement under the command of Captain Edgar Curry.”
Continuing, Wright says:
“Over the last one hundred years, the Salvation Army has been located in several different locations throughout the downtown area, under the leadership of many different officers. The first meeting hall was located at 233 Court Street until 1943, when it was re-located to 239 Derby Street, under the command of Captain Dora Wilson. Captain Wilson served in Pekin until August 1950, at which time Second Lieutenant Harold Hultin took over command of the Pekin Corps. In that same month the new chapel of the Corps building was dedicated. That location on Derby Street served as a meeting hall for numerous years, and it wasn’t until 1967 when Major Cecil Dye dedicated the present location of 243 Derby Street as the new Corps building.
“Over the last one hundred years, the Salvation Army has served in many disasters in Pekin. In 1924 a local factory exploded and The Salvation Army responded with food and first aid dispensed from a tent. In 1943-44 the Illinois river flooded its banks and all those who lived alongside it were washed out. The flood victims lost all material belongings, and it was The Salvation Army to the rescue once again. Food, clothing, shelter, and furniture were distributed as needs became apparent. Without The Salvation Army in Pekin, many people would have been ruined, but they found a lifeline in the persons who wore the uniform of The Salvation Army.”
“Over the last one hundred years the Red Kettles and Bell Ringers have become our most familiar presence to the public,” Wright says, emphasizing the Salvation Army’s desire to be “The Servant of All” by providing “services to everyone in the community regardless of race, color, or creed.”
