The church on East B Street

McCook has always provided the citizens with a large choice of houses of worship to choose from, so many that one might say that religion has been the backbone of our community. The first to be built, as I have mentioned before, was by the Congregational members with Methodist and Catholic following closely behind.

Several people have asked about the building on East B street. Was it a church? What congregation was it? The structure, located in the 1200 block, certainly appears to have been a church, and so it was beginning in 1953. When it closed permanently I haven’t put a date to, but the following is a bit of its history.

The 1950’s history of the Church of the Nazarene shows the McCook City Auditorium as the setting for their services and revivals. “Revival Services, under the auspices of the Church of the Nazarene, will begin Wednesday evening at 7:30 in Memorial Auditorium. The Rev. Whitcomb Harding, superintendent of the Nebraska district, will be one of the evangelists for this campaign. Assisting him will be the Rev. A. A. Schneider, chairman of the district church school board. The services will be held through March 12-23.” McCook Gazette, Monday, March 10, 1952. At the same time, the Gazette printed the schedule of Sunday services for all churches: “The Church of the Nazarene, Church school 10 a.m., Morning Worship, 11 a.m., Rev. H. W. Nichols, Supply Pastor, Evening Service, 7:30 p.m., at the City Auditorium.”

In the April 18, 1952, Gazette came this announcement: “The McCook Church of the Nazarene last week welcomed its new pastor the Rev. Alice Beckman, who came here from Los Angeles. The new pastor has spent many years in the evangelistic field, and especially in child evangelism. She has served extensively in Southern California and the Rocky Mountain region. The church is holding its services in the auditorium of the Junior High School.”

Rev. Beckman retained that position until the summer of 1953 when this article first gives us a clue to the building on B street: “Dr. and Mrs. H. L. Mullenax, appointed this summer to the McCook Nazarene Church , claim ‘McCook is the friendliest town we have been privileged to live in’. The Mullenax came here from Long Beach, Calif. Both, however, were raised in Grand Island. They have four children, two of them in school.”

“Since coming here the Mullenax have seen the Nazarene church take over the East McCook Union Sunday School Building in the 1200 block on East B street. The interior of the building has been completely redone and work has been started on the outside of the building. Several hundred dollars has been spent with much of the labor donated and material given at a great discount. Dr. Mullenax expressed thanks to the McCook lumber company, the Patton Plumbing company, the Stevens Paint store, and Walter Pryor for the grading and gravelling of the east parking lot, now under construction. The new prefabricated stoop and front steps were sold to the church by the Lockhart Construction company at a large discount, Mullenax said. They will greatly improve the looks and safety of the building, he stated.” McCook Gazette, September 11, 1953

So there are two answers in that article. The American Sunday School Union (ASSU formed in 1824 in Philadelphia, PA to educate children in both literacy and spiritual development) had used the building prior to the Nazarene congregation but the Nazarenes were the ones who created a more church-like building from it. (The ASSU continued at 1102 West 10th.)

That could probably be the end of this story, but Rev. Mullenax was also the city building inspector and next weeks column is going to reveal how that was woven into his life of good works.

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