[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 66 (Thursday, May 10, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E775]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING THE 175TH ANNIVERSARY OF UNION BAPTIST CHURCH IN ALTON, 
                                ILLINOIS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JERRY F. COSTELLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 10, 2012

  Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join 
me in recognizing the 175th Anniversary of the Union Baptist Church in 
Alton, Illinois.
  In the first half of the 19th Century, Alton, Illinois had developed 
as a major stop on the Underground Railroad as slaves came north in 
search of their freedom. It was a small group of these former slaves, 
some having arrived via the Underground Railroad and some having 
previously been freed, that gathered to form a Baptist Church in Alton.
  The group organized as the African Mission Freedmen. In 1837, the 
same year that the City of Alton was incorporated and also the same 
year that the famed abolitionist journalist, Elijah Lovejoy, was 
killed, the Union Baptist Church was founded. The first pastor was Rev. 
John Livingston and one of the founding members, John Anderson, had 
worked as a pressman for Elijah Lovejoy at The Alton Observer.
  As the church congregation grew, a two-story building was constructed 
in 1854, with Union Baptist Church meeting on the second floor and the 
first African-American school in Alton using the first floor.
  The church was forced to sell the building in the later years of the 
19th Century and went back to meeting in congregation homes. In the 
early 1900's a new church was built.
  The 175 year history of Union Baptist Church has seen its membership 
go through periods of decline, followed by resurgence. Throughout those 
years, however, the spirit of its founders, who came searching for 
freedom and a better life, has sustained the church and kept it 
thriving as a place of worship up to today.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the 175th 
Anniversary of the Union Baptist Church and to wish the congregation 
the best for many years to come.

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