Paxton (IL) Celebrates 125th Anniversary

On Sunday, Jim Hawkinson, former executive director of the former Covenant Publications department, was the guest speaker during the church's confirmation reunion. Hawkinson reported that confirmands from as far back as 1917 were part of the event, which included a potluck lunch following morning worship. On Saturday evening, the church hosted a concert and coffee hour. Hawkinson added that about 400 were part of the two events combined.

Paxton's Covenant congregation got its start as a result of evangelism meetings led by Eric August Skogsberg. Not long after that, a group of people left the local Augustana Lutheran congregation and officially organized their own church in November 1878 as the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Church of Paxton under pastor P.A. Palmquist. The congregation's initial business meeting was held December 18, 1878. The church built its first building a year later. After joining the denomination in 1885, the church continued to grow and had more than 500 involved in church by 1896, according to congregational records.

Known for many years as Mission Covenant Church, the Paxton congregation saw previous pastors and laypersons move on to help the denomination in a variety of ways. Besides Hawkinson, notable pastors that served the church were Harry Swanson, who later was superintendent of the Great Lakes Conference, and Elmer Fondell, a former missionary who became professor of missions at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. Longtime missionaries in South American, Dean and Donna Erickson, also were sent from the congregation.

The Evangelical Covenant Church of Paxton will continue its 125th anniversary celebration later this fall with a November 8 banquet. For more information, call the church at 217-379-3554.

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