{"id":792,"date":"1886-11-07T18:07:37","date_gmt":"1886-11-08T00:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ss.sites.mtu.edu\/cca\/?p=792"},"modified":"2017-08-15T23:00:01","modified_gmt":"2017-08-16T03:00:01","slug":"first-congregational-church-of-lake-linden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ss.sites.mtu.edu\/cca\/first-congregational-church-of-lake-linden\/","title":{"rendered":"First Congregational Church of Lake Linden"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Beckman.<\/p>\n

Architect: Holabird & Roche<\/a>
\nLocation: 1st and Tunnel Streets, Lake Linden
\nBuilt: 1886
\nContractors: Emery & McCurdy<\/p>\n

\"firstcongchurchsummer\" — First Congregational Church. Photograph by J. Matijega, 2006.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The First Congregational Church of Lake Linden was built in 1887 for a largely Scottish group of copper-milling company officials and local businessmen. The building was dedicated in February of 1887, at a final cost of $8,325.^{1\u00a0<\/sup>That\u00a0summer a fire destroyed a dozen city blocks of Lake Linden, leaving 300 families homeless. The church was able to house eight families in the basement for several months.<\/p>\n}
The church is a pine-shingled, frame building on a foundation of coursed mine rock. On the north end of the sharp gabled roof sits a pyramid-capped tower. Two clipped dormers with lancet windows break the roof line.^{2<\/sup><\/p>\n}
The front porch, with a spindlework frieze, shelters two double doors. Between them is intricate patterning of fish-scale and flat-edged shingles divided into sections by vertical and horizontal stick work. There are six pointed-arch stained-glass windows on each side.<\/p>\n
Through the front doors, the foyer gives way to a stairway to the pastor\u2019s room down to the meeting hall and kitchen. Curved wooden balustrades frame the staircases. The sanctuary features a herringbone-patterned hardwood ceiling. Minor alterations include the removal of the side-wall light fixtures and the covering of the original plaster wall finish with early 20th-century wallpaper.<\/p>\n
The First Congregational Church is now owned by the Houghton County Historical Society. This Stick Style church, unusual in the Copper Country, has been excellently preserved.<\/p>\n
$\"firstcongchurchwinter\"$ <\/a>
First Congregational Church. Photograph by J. Beckman, 2006.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"firstcongchurchdetail\"$ <\/a>
First Congregational Church, detail of side. Photograph by J. Beckman, 2006.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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