Quick Links

Deadwood's Oldest Church Tribute To Early Settlers

By: Lois Miller

Although St. John's Episcopal church in Deadwood stands as a tribute to the valiant efforts of an early day pioneer, Mrs. Helen M. Dennee, there are several unique facts about its history.

It is the oldest church building in Deadwood, and Mrs. Dennee whose daughter Mrs. R. N. Ogden, still lives in Deadwood, was responsible for organizing the "gatherings” that brought the church to life.

“One unusual thing about the organization was that there were 100 men present and only three women, my mother, Mrs. Wooley and Mrs. Tracey," said Mrs. Ogden at an interview.

"My mother said she had never heard anything so beautiful as the voices of those hundred men singing the old church songs at that first meeting. Naturally, they completely drowned out the women's voices.

"That first meeting was held in the old Jack Langrish theater as there was no show on Sunday then. A Mr. Chambers who was the superintendent of the Father DeSmet mine, read the service ... that was in 1877.

"My mother played the organ for services all that summer. They began a fund raising campaign which had to depend mostly on money they raised from dances every two weeks.

"At first there was a good deal of controversy over that - but the need for funds was great and the dances won out," said Mrs. Ogden, who was just a tiny girl when her family moved to Deadwood.

She was asked for the loan of a picture of her mother, and said quickly her mother was a modest, unassuming little woman and would not like to have her picture published.

The "gatherings" went on steadily and the group grew in size. Among those early day pioneer women who worked hard to get the church organized was Mrs. Ethel Wringrose whose daughter, Mrs. Frank Herron, still lives in Deadwood. Mrs. Wringrose's family was brought up in the church.

The oldest living member of the church is Mrs. M. E. Dague, 96, who resides in Minneapolis. Mrs. Dague brought all her family up in the church, and made her home in Deadwood until the years sneaked up and made it essential for her to go and live with her daughter.

As soon as the funds grew to an encouraging size the group bought some lots. Two locations were available and were considered. One was where the courthouse now stands, the other up on Williams street. The latter location was chosen and there is where the church stands today.

Other denominations are "older in the town" but St. John's seems to be the oldest church building. If Mrs. Dennee could but step back and walk softly along she would be able to recognize the interior of the old church as that has not changed much in the years.

While the church lots were being paid for it was often touch and go with the group. At one time, according to old letters still preserved, the group “was deeply mortified” and said the unvarnished truth was they were on the edge of “giving up.”

But those staunch pioneers were made of firm stuff. They did manage to hold on for several years. By 1880 a missionary was sent out here to help out with the work. He was Bishop Hare and it was while he was here the cornerstone was laid for the church building.

Bishop W.H. Hare declared the St. John’s Episcopal Church the “mother Episcopal church” in the entire Black Hills. To Mrs. Helen Dennee went the honor of naming the church.

She named it in honor of a church in Canada where she grew up as the Dennee family had come from Canada direct to Deadwood in 1877.

A large, frame house on the lots was razed, and slowly the church began to take shape. One can well imagine those early-day pioneers donating many day’s work to help with the building for funds were always hard to raise.

Into that cornerstone and sealed for posterity was placed a prayer book, a hymnal, some coins and a copy of the Black Hills Times and the Pioneer, Mrs. Ogden relates.

There must have been a gratifying sense of achievement when the basement was completed and services were then held there. The first clergyman was a Mr. Lasalle from the east.

He taught a private school to help piece out funds, but he became ill and had to be sent east. He was replaced by a Dr. Penell from New York. It was Dr. Penell who organized the St. John's choir which still functions.

The choir is vested in black and white and numbers 15 at this time. Dr. Penell accomplished a great deal in Deadwood, where he worked faithfully until his death.

He was a large man, weighing all of 200 pounds, and his body was taken out of Deadwood strapped on top of a stage coach while his family rode inside the coach. Mrs, Ogden says this was perhaps because a special coffin bad to be made for him and was not available here.

Over a period of some years other clergymen served the church, the Rev. George Ware came. It was

during his stay that the church building was completed much as you see it today.

Services went from the basement to the upstairs. In those years John Van Nostrand Derr was a lay reader in the church. He later became famous for the invention of the classifier used in mines and became a millionaire. He is still living and Mrs. Ogden is in receipt of a recent card from him from his New York home.

With the church completed it was still rough sailing for the group and there were times when they felt like giving up. There were even times when they had no clergyman and no services for a time, but always hope kept alive in their hearts.

Ill those years clergymen also preached in Spearfish as well as Deadwood. Then the group really should have fared very well for some years as their minister was the Rev. Cash. He is still living in Springfield, Ill., now retired.

Another early-day minister was John Flockhart and he must have liked it here for every summer he still returns to the Black Hills to renew old acquaintances with Hills people

Many gifts came to the church in those early years from friends in the cast. Among these were a complete silver communion service, a parish register and 30 hymnals (five with music!) and some record books for the growing Sunday school they had established in the church.

For many years the name of W. E. Adams was prominent in the work of the church. He was junior warden and D. A. McPherson was senior warden.

A strikingly beautiful window was presented to the church by the widow of W. E. Adams in his memory. It is an exact duplicate of a window in a large church in Chicago.

Along in the early 1900s the church began to flourish. It must have enjoyed more than just a taste of prosperity, for in those years

1 funds were raised largely by personal pledges of the members,

In 1904 a fine new pipe organ was bought and built right into the church. Pipe organs were not numerous in those years and this one was acknowledged to be the finest in South Dakota.

It cost $1.700 and was shipped from Springfield. Mass., by freight - shipping charges were $207,23. One can easily imagine that visitors probably came from all over the state to see and hear the organ.

Another unique thing was it was paid for right at the time, and it is still functioning.

Gentle unassuming, little Mrs. Dennee who mothered the church and gave it a name, lived to see her children and grandchildren all brought up in the church. She attended services up to her death in 1917 when she was 83 years old.

Her funeral was conducted from the St. John's Episcopal church and she lies buried in Mi. Moriah cemetery among our other pioneers.

Time and weather have softened and mellowed the exterior or the church and the bricks have gone from their original red to a soft tone. Many improvements have been made in the interior.

For many years the basement was used as a home for the rectors, then a fine new stucco parsonage was built alongside the church. Just recently the entire basement came in for rehabilitation.

A hangover from early years was an old stage in one end of the basement, and this has been removed. Floors were sanded and refinished in natural pine varnish to look like new floors.

The organ blower which consumed valuable space in the kitchen area was relegated to an ante room which added space for the kitchen. Cabinets were built in and the color scheme is red and white.

Basement walls are finished in wall board in three tones with grooving decorations, The ceiling was lowered two feet to cover some unsightly steam pipes. Formerly the basement was heated by gas stoves which were aging and decrepit. These were removed and modern steam heat installed.

New drapes of fine fabric and lined throughout are hand made and have artistic wooden valances at the basement windows. A new hot water heater was installed.

When one steps into the kitchen the whole area seems to contradict the age of the church building. There are tables for both adults and children.

Entering the main part of the church any stranger is impressed as the interior gives one the feeling of some "old-world" church. High above are soft brown varnished beams of almost heroic size.

Fluorescent lights in square shape are suspended like artistic lanterns. The soft gold of the pipes of the organ add a high spot of decoration for the old organ is still in use. Present organist is Mrs. Holst, Deadwood business woman.

The vestibule and the minister's study have both been newly decorated to harmonize with the rest of the church. The sacristy room where altar supplies are kept has been recently equipped with built in drawer space; also the supply room where choir vestments are stored.

Although many improvements have been made in the seven decades since the church was built it has retained its old unpretentious style of early years.

Another thing that is sure to impress one is that a stranger is a stranger only when he enters the church! The moment services a

Published Online: March 23rd, 2007