An appetite and maybe a covered dish are appropriate for a picnic on the grounds following the only summer worship service. The Christmas Eve service requires bulky attire, since there is no heat or electricity. Spots of once-dripping wax can be found on hymnal pages, since carols are sung by the light of hand-held candles. It is not possible to light the six surviving kerosene lanterns. These are the only two regularly scheduled services at Portland Prairie Church, conducted by the Caledonia United Methodist Church.
The 144 year-old building has been on the National Registry of Historic Places since 1996. Now, 169 years after the arrival of the first settlers, some descendants of those prairie pioneers still reside in far south central Houston County.
It was a long train ride to Chicago and shorter train trip to Galena, Ill., before boarding a boat to Lansing, Iowa. Then it was overland (often on foot on an old Indian trail) to the young state of Minnesota as Stuart Dibley relates the westward migration of his maternal great grandfather. The earliest arrived in 1851; they were referred to as “Yankees” having moved west from the New England states of Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island – in contrast to their nearby neighbors, who had recently immigrated from Europe – Norwegian settlers in Wilmington Grove and German pioneers in Eitzen, which was named after Eitzen, Germany. Portland Prairie was named after Portland, Maine.
Approximately, seven miles south of Caledonia and one-and-a-half miles north of Eitzen, the first community buildings were rural schoolhouses. Dating back to 1855, a Methodist Episcopal congregation first held worship services in private homes.
In sparsely-populated frontier areas, itinerant preachers, known as “circuit riders” in the early Methodist Episcopal church, were assigned to conduct worship services while traveling a circuit of small congregations.
Tragedy struck Portland Prairie on December 9, 1856 when young preacher Ransom Scott walked eight miles from his uncle’s house only to learn a snowstorm had cancelled the service. He turned down an invitation to stay the night and headed back out into the blizzard that claimed his life.
It was several months later in May before his remains were found in a ravine about two miles from Portland Prairie. His identity was determined by personal belongings, such as his Bible and hymnal. Wolves had devoured his body, except for his feet, which were encased by boots too tough to penetrate. It was said, “he was a good Christian and had an ambition to be useful.”
Worship services were later held at McNelly School before a church was built a half-mile north on land donated by Dr. George and Ellen Healy Cass. John McNelly, a state legislator, procured plans in St. Paul with the construction contract awarded to Mr. Tuttle of New Albin, Iowa.
At a cost of $1,540, the church was built in 1876 and dedicated along with the adjoining cemetery in 1877. Dr. Ambler of New Albin preached the first sermon.
After wheat began to fail in the 1880s, many of those first families moved west to Nebraska and the Dakotas. In 1932, Dibley and Lyle Lapham were the last to be baptized while Portland Prairie was still an active congregation. After 80 years of worship, the remaining families at Portland Prairie — long linked to Caledonia Methodist Church — transferred to that town congregation in 1935.
As a youth in the 1940s, Dibley remembers helping mow the churchyard for the summer service and picnic, a worship and social tradition that survives today. Insurance issues with children handling candles led to the Christmas Eve candlelight service being moved from the church building in Caledonia out to Portland Prairie. Having regular annual services allows the congregation to maintain insurance on the historic edifice at Portland Prairie. When a new organ was purchased for use in town in 1947, the old pump organ went to Portland Prairie, where 73 years later, it is still used.
There is a current project to replace the windows, which are always open for the summer service; although closed on Christmas Eve, they allow candlelight to flicker into the dark winter night.
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