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November 6 Today in OPC History

Cedar Grove, Wisconsin

2020

 

On this day in 1936, the cornerstone was laid for the new building of Calvary Church, Cedar Grove, Wisconsin. Some five months earlier, nearly 300 members of First Church had followed Pastor John DeWaard in leaving the PCUSA and joining the Presbyterian Church of America (later renamed Orthodox Presbyterian Church).

Trying to find a place to worship in Cedar Grove that could hold 300 people was a challenge for the newly formed congregation. During the summer and fall of 1936, they met in the village hall as they made plans for constructing a new building. The month of October was spent digging the excavation for the foundation and basement. After the cornerstone was laid and the basement was finished, the congregation spent the next four years worshiping in the basement until the upper structure was completed and dedicated for service on November 14, 1940.

A pipe organ was added in 1948, and in 1969 a new educational wing named "The John J. DeWaard Memorial Christian Education Building" was built. Calvary OPC would also host the Fourteenth (1947) and Twenty-ninth (1962) General Assemblies at its building.

 

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