Kansas history

Kansas

1901: Atchison Gospel Hall

Atchison is situated on the Missouri River, about fifty miles northwest of Kansas City. In the fall of 1901, Mr. and Mrs. John V. Davis and Mrs. Will Tietge began meeting regularly on the first day of each week to Remember the Lord, the beginning of the Atchison Gospel Hall, KS. Some years later their number had doubled, and the six began to pray definitely for the Lord to send His servants to labor in the field.

Several Kansas City brethren took up the challenge and consistently visited this city to supply the needed help. Several brothers from the Troost Avenue Gospel Hall in Kansas City, MO went to Atchison on the third Sunday of every month to minister to and encourage the fledgling assembly while it was still meeting in the various homes of the believers. Among these were Wayne Matthews and Ralph Littlefield.

The first series of nightly meetings to be held by the assembly in Atchison was in 1936 when John and David Horn preached to large crowds in a schoolhouse at the edge of town and several were saved. That summer the Horn brothers returned for tent meetings, and the interest increased. In the fall of 1937 the assembly added a regular prayer meeting to its testimony. Jack Charles frequently came to help. Special meetings were again held in the homes and in two different schoolhouses across the Missouri River. Arthur Rodgers gave valuable help in one of the schoolhouses and also at various times in Atchison.

In February 1938 the assembly opened the Gospel Hall, an unpretentious rented building on a prominent street. For six years it served as a place of blessing. Many in the neighborhood attended the meetings and frequently the capacity of the building was taxed. Several itinerant preachers visited and gave special meetings, and also helped at the annual Easter Conferences; among these were David and John Horn, David Lawrence, Arthur Rodgers, E. G. Matthews, and Leonard Sheldrake.

During this time the Lord added to the number one by one, and the old rented building became overcrowded and was otherwise inadequate. When another group of people purchased the building, the assembly met for several months in the Masonic Hall, which had already been used for two conferences. Plans were undertaken for constructing a chapel. A corner lot was provided in a residential district where there was no other church building.

In April 1944, the new hall was opened with a prayer meeting. Eight months later, the basement facilities were used for the first time at an all-day meeting, and in 1945 the fifth annual conference was the first to be held in the new building. John Horn and his wife moved to the city and remained there until the Lord took them home. It was at the Atchison Easter Conference in 1961 that Arthur Rodgers passed into the presence of the Lord. The assembly continued until about 1977.

1950: Bible Chapel of Shawnee / Overland Park, Kansas City, KS

In 1950 or 1951, five families who lived on the Kansas side of the line between Missouri and Kansas hived off from the Troost Avenue Gospel Hall to form an assembly in the Overland Park area of Kansas City, KS. William and Ruth Hayward, and Wayne and Ruth Matthews were those who lived there, and when three other families moved to the area, the decision was made to start an assembly.

Some of the early families, besides the Haywards and Matthews, were those of Russ and Doris Farwell, Lloyd Staley, and Robert Buelick and his mother. Among those who came a little later were the families of Jim Petersen, Harry Sommerville, and John Schultheiss, followed by Duncan Sommerville.

The assembly has occupied the same building ““ Overland Park Chapel ““ at 64th and Floyd since its inception. At its largest, in the 1960s, about 200 people were in fellowship. A division in the early 1970s caused a serious decline in numbers, but today about 75 are in fellowship. Leaders in past years include Harry Sommerville, Duncan Sommerville, Gifford Knapp, Truman Page, Harlan Baldwin, Glenn Lee, and Russ Farwell. Don Herrington, Ray Miller, and Nelson Cook are among the leadership today.

Wichita, KS

1929: Wichita Assembly, KS

The first assembly in Wichita was started by Will Thomas, a full-time evangelist from Wales. A document written by Mr. Thomas in 1929 is extant, referring to this assembly. After his early death in 1931, his widow and two small daughters moved back to Perry, where a small assembly existed at that time. The Wichita Assembly struggled after that but is said to be the beginning of subsequent brethren testimony in the area.

1941: East Kellogg Gospel Chapel, Wichita, KS

Leonard Lindsted was commended to full-time service in 1939 by the Fernwood Gospel Chapel in Chicago. Encouraged to come to Wichita by the Myron Lakes’, Leonard Lindsted and Tom McCullagh pitched a tent on the Meridian School ground in August 1941. The Lord blessed with fruit and they made contact with other Christians. By October 1941 Leonard had moved his family to Wichita. The Christians met as an assembly in a rented store on West Maple until the war started in December 1941.

At that time, the Lindsteds moved to Goessel, 35 miles north of Wichita. During this time Leonard held Bible studies in Newton, Canton, and in his own home. In the summer he had tent meetings in many Kansas towns with Joe Balsan, Ben Parmer, and other workers.

Under the leadership of Leonard Lindsted and Dean Jensen, the Wichita assembly was incorporated in April 1946 and met at the East Kellogg Gospel Chapel at 1933 E. Kellogg. The incorporators were Charles Cissel, Dean Jensen, and Bert Brower.

Dean Jensen urged William Horn, then at Drake University in Iowa, to move to Wichita to help out at the Wichita assembly. Bill Horn came in July 1948 and with the Lindsteds again started Bible studies in Wichita, using the Charles Cissel home on North Grove. They soon moved the studies to the Labor Temple downtown to accommodate the people.

Street meetings in Wichita and surrounding communities several evenings a week were held until legal restriction closed them down. Tent meetings continued, and special Gospel meetings continued through the following years, and the assembly continued to grow.

1972: South Emporia Bible Chapel, Wichita, KS

In 1971, the construction of Highway 54 forced the church to move, and a new South Emporia Bible Chapel was erected at 2100 South Emporia. Soon after the new chapel was built, Leonard Lindsted’s son, Robert, returned to Wichita from Vermont to take a position at Wichita State University. Many college students were saved and brought into the fellowship of the assembly. Leonard and Robert, with the help of the South Emporia meeting, started a “Pioneer House” where young men could live and also attend special Bible classes in the evenings. These classes were designed to train them to be Christian leaders and speakers.

Several workers were commended to the Lord’s service by the South Emporia Bible Chapel, to Thailand, Immanuel Mission in Arizona, and to local ministry.

1996: Westside Bible Chapel, Wichita, KS

The other group from the former Sunrise Bible Chapel started in May 1996 in the home of Troy and Mary Jane Campbell. The believers moved to another home after a few months, then rented the Bel Aire Rec Center for almost a year. They now meet as Believers’ Bible Chapel at the Sunrise Christian Academy. This assembly has commended Robert Linsted for local ministry, has sponsored several part-time mission trips involving some 50 individuals, and has commended workers to full-time missionary work abroad. Believers’ Bible Chapel has about 150 adults and children in attendance.

The assembly at South Emporia Bible Chapel remained in their building for a time after the hive-off to Sunrise took place. Some couples living on Wichita’s west side began meeting in a home for mid-week prayer and Bible study in 1981. Dan Linsted was one of the leaders. The Eddie Buchannan family and Darold Peters family were among this group. Land was purchased but no building was erected. The group gradually disbanded and by 1990 most had returned to South Emporia Bible Chapel.

Overcrowding in the South Emporia chapel induced the assembly to erect a building on the land that had been purchased on the west side. Pending completion, the assembly met in rented space in a mall. In 1995, they moved into the new building and changed their name to Westside Bible Chapel. The present elders at Westside are Eddie Buchanan, Arnold Burkle, Duane Denny, and Whitney Reader. Average attendance is around 100.

1963: Grace Bible Chapel, Wichita, KS

A small racially mixed meeting began fellowshipping in Augst 1963 and incorporated in 1966 as Grace Bible Chapel in Wichita. The incorporators were Donald Govan, Duane Denny, and D. Wayne Becker. This meeting continued until January 1981 when the Govan family moved to Jackson, MS to work with Voice of Calvary Ministries. Their daughter and son-in-law moved to California to work with World Impact, and Carol Denny was commended to the work at Immanuel Mission in Arizona. The South Emporia assembly continued the commendation of Carol and her husband Rick Khol after Grace Bible Chapel closed.

1982: Sunrise Bible Chapel, Wichita, KS

After about a dozen years, some believers in the assembly at South Emporia hived off to start a new work on the east side of the city. They also began a school, which at the beginning had quite small classes. Robert Lindsted had moved to the northeast side of Wichita and the assembly began in his home and was incorporated in 1982. The number multiplied and in 1983, Sunrise Bible Chapel was built. The Sunrise school has been quite successful, with about 750 students enrolled at this time.

Mid-1990’s: Northside Bible Chapel, Wichita, KS

The Sunrise meeting divided in the mid-1990s. Most of the believers relocated nearby to Northside Bible Chapel in Kechi in 1996. The assembly has continued to grow at Northside and has an active children’s program. In active leadership in the assembly over the years have been Leonard Lindsted, Dean Jensen, William Horn, Louie Becker, and Robert Lindsted. Randy Horn and Will Nuse are the current elders at Northside, which has also recognized several deacons. About 200 adults and children attend Northside.

Hutchinson, KS

Hutchinson Gospel Chapel, Hutchinson, KS

Richard Burson was a Baptist preacher working in Salina in the late 1930s and early 1940s. While he was helping some widows clean out their attic, he found old copies of Help and Food, published by Loizeaux Brothers, which he read, learning the principles of a New Testament church.

In about 1943, he moved to the city of Hutchinson, southwest of Salina, and took the pastorate of a newly formed Baptist church at 4th and Main. He set up a bookstore in the front of the building, had the services in a middle room, and had living quarters in the rear of the building.

In 1945, Lawrence Littlefield, who was then stationed at the Hutchinson Naval Air Station, and his wife Betty, found the bookstore. Conversations with Mr. Burson about the New Testament church ensued, and Mr. Burson became eager to change his church to the New Testament pattern. He contacted Loizeaux Brothers in New York City for help, and they in turn contacted Ralph Littlefield of Kansas City, who had already been informed by his son Lawrence.

Ralph Littlefield spent much time in discussion with Richard Burson. Leonard Linstead and Tom McCoullagh also gave advice, and soon the Hutchinson Bible Hall was a reality at 4th and Main. Later the name was changed to Hutchinson Gospel Chapel to avoid confusion with the local Jehovah Witnesses hall.

Some of the families left to join a nearby Baptist group after the change. The remaining four or five families moved to an old funeral home at 228 W. 2nd. There Richard Burson set up a print shop, in addition to the book store and an apartment and meeting rooms for the assembly.

After a few more years, the Christians rented a building on East 2nd Street, and later purchased a building at 212 N. Lorraine. Six families were then in the assembly but felt that God was leading them to start a Sunday School with a bus for transportation.

In the late 1960s, the assembly, still small, purchased the Presbyterian building at 6th and Elm. In the 1970s, the families in the Hutchinson Gospel Chapel moved into that building, where it still meets today at 334 E. Sixth Street. Growth began at about that time, until today the assembly is the second largest in the state, with about 180 adults and children.

Those in active leadership over the years include Richard Burson, Leslie Jantz, Orville Hopper, Jim Gardner, Lowell Ramsey, Lane Scott, Billy Asberry, John Meinzinger, William Newcome, Darell Valdois, Steve Burson, John Bloom, Wayne Dudley, and Duane Schmidt. Workers have been commended by the assembly to Peru, Mexico, Immanuel Mission in Arizona, and to Kansas Bible Camp.

Hutchinson Gospel Chapel is closely associated with the work at the Kansas Bible Camp in Stafford, some 40 miles to the west, which Richard Burson started in 1946 and was the director for many years. Following Mr. Burson, John Bloom became director of the camp, and after him, John Denny.

1915: Belleville, KS

Near the Nebraska border, north of Salina and Wichita, is the town of Belleville. In about 1915, the Belleville Meeting was started by a Mr. Bachelor and Carss Nesmith, both business men. The small group of three or four families met in the second floor of a retail establishment. A little later, Eldon Baird moved to the area from Iowa and helped with the young people. Others who joined with the group were the families of Carl Ball, Charles Wilson, and Willie Hay. The assembly disbanded in about 1935 following the deaths of Messrs. Bachelor and Nesmith.

1935: Concordia, KS

By the time the Belleville Meeting ceased, Eldon Baird had married and moved to nearby Concordia. He, with Charles Wilson and Ed Corkill began Remembering the Lord in the Corkill home in Concordia. Soon they rented an old church building for their meetings, calling it the Concordia Gospel Hall. These three men did the preaching on Sunday mornings, and also had Sunday evening Gospel meetings. John and David Horn, Jack Charles, John Walden, and Arthur Rodgers are remembered as preaching at the Concordia Gospel Hall. The meeting, however, was short-lived, disbanding in the early 1940s.

Coal Creek / Baldwin City

1880’s: Coal Creek Gospel Hall

The history of the Coal Creek Gospel Hall stretches back to the 1880s, when three men, one of them Alex O’Brien, started meeting for prayer in the rural Coal Creek school house, south of Lawrence. Sometime after this, Mr. O’Brien began pastoring at a church in nearby Perry, but soon realized he was not saved. He was brought into contact with brethren from Kansas City and was later saved through the truth of Acts 13:38.

The O’Brien family farm was near the Coal Creek School House, and Alex O’Brien pitched a Gospel tent on the family farm in about 1903. During three weeks of meetings, some of the O’Brien family were saved, including Alex’s brother James and his wife Edith. Soon after that, a few Christians began Breaking Bread in the farm home. They enjoyed fellowship with other small gatherings in Perry, Garnett, and Kansas City.

In 1918 and 1919, Charles Leonard held meetings in the Coal Creek School House, and several were saved. In 1921, the Remembrance Meeting began to be held there. In 1920 and 1922, Oliver Smith held meetings in the neighborhood, with many professing Christ. Ira Hird and many of his family were saved at about this time. Other evangelists who came were William Grierson, Will White, Charles Stow, Arthur Rodgers, John Horn, J.O. Brown, and Ernest Washington.

The Coal Creek School was closed in 1947, but the assembly continued to meet at the school house. The building later became known as the Coal Creek Gospel Hall. When a tornado destroyed the building in 1977, the Christians rented the American Legion hall in nearby Baldwin City until 1981, when they built their own hall on the crest of Baldwin Hill, north of town.

James O’Brien was a true shepherd of the Coal Creek assembly through the early years. With his passing, his son-in-law, Ed Rockhold led the assembly until 1950. At that time, the O’Briens and Rockholds became associated with the Lawrence Bible Chapel.

Those engaged in shepherding the assembly in more recent years include Delbert Hird, LeRoy Olmstead, David Olmstead, Peter Naber, Curtis Naber, and Daniel Stewart.

An unusual outreach of the assembly is to Russian-speaking families who attend the Sunday School and the Gospel meetings at the Coal Creek Gospel Hall each Lord’s Day. The messages are translated into Russian by some of the Russian visitors. Mr. Caleb Baker’s chart The Two Roads and The Two Destinies has been printed in matching English and Russian and are on display in the hall. About 50 adults and children attend these meetings.

1967: Baldwin City Gospel Chapel, KS

The Baldwin City Gospel Chapel, south of Lawrence, was established in 1967 by Ray Jones and Ed Rockhold. Not a hive-off from another assembly, it met first in a home at 819 Indiana Street. The Gospel Chapel has commended workers to service at the Turkey Hill Bible Ranch Camp in Missouri and Immanuel Mission in Arizona. It sponsors an annual open Bible Conference. The assembly has about 40 adults and young people in fellowship.

1903: Garnett, KS

Those who gathered in Garnett were George DeWolf, E.N. Miller, Will Craig, Harry McAfee, Walter McAfee, John Thomas, Wilbur Thomas, and Sam Thomas. The Garnett Assembly met last in the home of Sam and Emily Thomas.

1920: Perry, KS

Oliver Smith started the Perry Assembly in about 1920 in the town of Perry, 13 miles north of Lawrence. The Christians gathered in the home of Charles Bradford. Conferences were held at Perry for several years. With Mr. Bradford were Mr. Jennings, his son Tracy, Fred Lakin, and Mr. Liggett. Will Thomas’ widow and daughters, one of whom later became Mrs. Gordon Wakefield, were in fellowship there from the early 1930s.

1944: Lawrence Bible Chapel, KS

The Lawrence Bible Chapel in the university town of Lawrence just west of Kansas City, was begun in 1944 as a home meeting, first in the home of Jack and Mary Marquette, and later in William Sommerville’s house. It began as a result of gasoline rationing during World War II. Gordon Wakefield attended there after being saved at the University of Kansas in 1950.

From 1951 to 1984, the assembly met at 1001 Kentucky in Lawrence, and in 1984 moved to its present location at 505 Monterey Way. The principal people involved in the start-up were Jack Marquette, Lawrence Littlefield, and Arthur Hird and their families. Those in leadership over the years include William Sommerville, Pete Youngberg, Ron Nadvornik, Dave Drelory, John Scollon, Don Schonberg, Russ Farwell, Terry Morgan, Larry Sherraden, and Dean Jordan.

The assembly has commended several to the Lord’s work abroad. About 230 adults and youngsters attend Lawrence Bible Chapel, which is the largest assembly in the state.

1948: Topeka Gospel Chapel, KS

The Topeka Gospel Chapel began in the Charles Bradford home in 1948, and later met in the home of Lloyd and Betty Walterick. The assembly moved into a newly built facility in 1958, where it resides today, at 5010 SW 20th Terrace. The Bradford, Leishman, and William Korkill families were those chiefly instrumental in the start-up. Also active in leadership have been Ted and Gene Everhart, Jim Stewart, and Jim Springer. About 25 adults and children attended the assembly in the 1990’s.

Osage City, KS

Osage City is south of Topeka. Gospel meetings were held there by John Walden, followed by J.O. Brown. The Osage City Assembly was formed as a result and met in the home of Paul and Mattie Lauback for several years.

Abilene, KS

1910: Bonnacord Assembly, Abilene, KS

Alexander “Sandy” Broadfoot from Iowa came to Kansas in the period 1910 to 1917 to visit and hold Gospel meetings in schoolhouses in the area south of Abilene in mid-Kansas. The Bonnacord schoolhouse was one of these. Many were saved. Mr. Broadfoot instructed Robert Robson and others about the Lord’s Supper and plural leadership, and an assembly was begun. The Christians met first in the large home of Alexander McBoyle and took the name Bonnacord Assembly. For many years, the Christians met in homes; Bible Conferences were held in tents.

1918: Grace and Truth Gospel Hall/Chapel

In 1918, the assembly built Grace and Truth Gospel Hall on donated property in the Holland area, which is still the assembly’s location some eight miles south of Abilene. One of the leading men in the assembly at that time was Frank Nicholson. Some of the early families to fellowship at the Hall were the Roggendorffs, Gruens, Millers, Emigs, and Jurys, in addition to the Deardorffs, McBoyles, Nicholsons, and Robsons. In the 1930s, the assembly changed the name to Grace and Truth Gospel Chapel.

In 1942, Jay Walden of Minneapolis was in the army at nearby Fort Riley. He fellowshipped at Grace and Truth and was a great help in the assembly. Other men who came to the Chapel from their military bases were Ed Kellner, Toby Brocker, Marvin Studnika, and David Silver. Joe and Jan Gummel came during the Desert Storm conflict. Orville Robson was the long-time correspondent for the assembly; he and his wife Lois were known for their hospitality. Elders at Grace and Truth have included Orville Robson, Menno Dyck, Keith Engle, Kenneth King, and Jerry Lahr.

1937: Elm Springs Bible Hall, Carlton, KS

An outreach of Grace and Truth Gospel Hall to an area south of the town of Carlton resulted in a group of believers meeting in the Elm Springs school house. Frank Nicholson from Grace and Truth held gospel meetings in the mid or late 1920s in area schoolhouses east of Roxbury. Interest grew and home Bible studies began. The Elm Springs school, a little way northeast of Roxbury, was the first meeting place for the new assembly. Others from Grace and Truth who came to help were Robert Robson and Dan Emig. Ed Buchenau and John Walden were among others who came to minister the word.

In 1937, a plot of ground a mile south of the school was donated to the assembly; lumber from a building in Carlton was used to build a meeting place on the property. The assembly Christians called it the Elm Springs Bible Hall. The assembly numbered about 60 at its largest. An annual three-day October Bible Conference was a highlight. Migration of farmers to the larger towns in the 1950s and 1960s caused a declining attendance at Elm Springs Bible Hall, and it disbanded in the late 1970s.

Some of the speakers at the Conferences sponsored by the two assemblies were Harry Ironside, George MacKenzie, Tom Carroll, Walter Wilson, Ed Bucheneau, Leonard Lindsted, Tom McCullagh, O.E. McGee, and Richard Burson. Missionary work was important to the believers at the two assemblies. They supported work among the Navajo Indians at Immanuel Mission in Arizona, making many trips there with supplies and co-commending workers for that work. Others commended include Kenneth Engle to the work in the Phillippines in 1951, and Kevin and Eloise Dyer to the Southeast Asia Literature Crusades in 1959.

1960: Salina, KS

Sunset Bible Chapel in Salina, not far from Abilene, has connections to the work in Lawrence. Four men and three women now with Sunset were in Lawrence and attending Bible studies in the home of William and Marie Sommerville in the 1950s. Gordon Wakefield, Richard Burson, Paul Little, and Alice Kitchen were frequent in attendance at these meetings. George Easter was one of those attending these studies, and when he moved to Wichita in 1957, he was encouraged to give help at Grace and Truth Gospel Chapel south of Abilene. When Mr. Easter moved to Salina in about 1960, Richard Burson and John Walden encouraged him to begin a work there. He and others began with Sunday evening and midweek meetings, while still in fellowship at Abilene. Several couples from the Elm Springs Bible Hall met with them, and after two years, some 50 were meeting in Salina, about the same number as at Abilene.

The assembly was officially formed in 1969 and known simply as The Chapel. The assembly met alternately in the Easter home and Marvin Johnson home. After several years, they rented space in a school building while accumulating a building fund, and in 1979 built the Sunset Bible Chapel at 760 Hancock, which they occupy now.

Elders at the beginning were Marvin Johnson, Everett Johnson, Dale Becker, Lawton Owen, and George Easter. These with their wives, and Earl and Alberta Blair, and Dave and Karen Smith, have continued in active roles in the assembly. Paul and Greg Johnson and Chuck Thornburg have been added to the leadership. The assembly has commended and co-commended workers to ministry in East Europe, Ireland, St. Lucia and St. Thomas, and Immanuel Mission in Arizona. Others have received short term commendations to Kansas Bible Camp and elsewhere.

1954: Manhattan, KS

When Gordon Wakefield was stationed at Fort Riley near Manhattan in the 1950s, he started an assembly which initially met in his home, then moved to a rented room in downtown Manhattan. This Manhattan Assembly consisted mostly of soldiers stationed at Fort Riley and students at Kansas State University. It lasted only about three years.

1916: Long Island & Kanorado, KS

In 1916 or 1917, J. E. (Ned) Brown, a wheat farmer then 60 years old, moved from Long Island in north-central Kansas to the area of Kanorado, a small town on the Kansas/Colorado border. Ned Brown had his roots in Iowa where he had helped establish the Berea Gospel Hall; when he moved to Long Island, Kansas, his first concern was to begin a meeting in that town. So, when he moved to his new farm a few miles from Kanorado, he directed his strong evangelistic concern toward planting a new work in that area also. Soon after arriving, he started an assembly that became known as the Kanorado Gospel Hall and which met initially at the Graybill school house north of Kanorado. A good preacher, he held Gospel meetings at several different school houses in western Kansas and eastern Colorado.

Ned Brown knew of two young men from central Kansas and hired them not so much to help out on his farm, as to help him in the evangelistic work. These were David and John Horn. Their pattern was to work in the fields during the day and preach at night. They both were soon full-time Gospel workers.

Many souls were saved in those years at the school house meetings and at tent meetings. Soon the assembly meeting at the Graybill school house was big enough to warrant its own building, and with volunteer labor built a chapel in about 1923 in the country northeast of Kanorado. They called it the Kanorado Gospel Hall. On a neighbor’s land adjacent to the Gospel Hall, the Christians would put up a large tent for their annual Bible Conferences, and a smaller tent where the farmers would bring produce and beef as an added attraction.

The Kanorado meeting grew rapidly, and numbered about 200 by 1929, remarkably large for a church out in the country. The Kanorado meeting had an oversight but not recognized elders.

Ned Brown took in another young man after the Horns left. This was John Walden. While living with the Browns, John helped with the farm work, but preaching God’s Word became most important to him. Shortly after John Walden and Nan DuBauge were married in 1931, they moved to Denver and then Colorado Springs. John Walden was one of the leading brothers among the assemblies in Colorado during his years of ministry.

John and David Horn frequently traveled and preached. They were the principal carriers of the Gospel into western Kansas and eastern Colorado. During their first series of meetings at the Happy Hollow school house in 1928, Ben F. Parmer, then 11 years old, was saved, with other members of his family. The Parmer family joined with the Kanorado meeting. After a few years Ben Parmer was teaching a boy’s Sunday School class there and sharing in the Gospel on Sunday nights.

Traveling preachers who came to the Kanorado Gospel Hall and to other assemblies in the area for special meetings included C.W. Ross, Don Charles, Jack Charles, Leonard Linsted, and Richard Burson.

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s caused much hardship; this together with the general state of the economy due to the Great Depression induced many farming families to move off the farms to the towns and cities along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. There they affiliated with existing assemblies and had a considerable influence.

The Nohr, Stevens, Turner, and Ted and Ed Anderson families were among those active at Kanorado who moved west and became active in new and existing assemblies along the Front Range. The remaining Kanorado brethren moved their meeting to Goodland, Kansas, a few miles east of Kanorado, in the late 1950s. The meeting dwindled and was dissolved in the early 1980s, after about 60 years of existence which had seen multitudes of people saved and strengthened.

1990’s: Garden City, KS

The Garden City Assembly has recently been established in the town of Garden City, toward the west side of the state.

Sources:

• Questionnaire Responses
• Reminiscences about Our Family, by William Baker Sommerville, 1978.
• Wichita Assembly History, by Dan Lindsted, 1987
• History of Grace and Truth Gospel Chapel, written in 1993 for its 75th Anniversary
• A Condensed History of the (Wichita) Gospel Chapel, by Carolyn Schmidt, in Overview ““ Newsletter of the Gospel Chapel, December 1981
• A Short History of Elm Springs Bible Hall, undated
• Letters of Interest, June 1945, p. 12; September 1947, p.22