Ira Sankey Collection, New Castle, Pennsylvania

Our Museum houses a large Ira D. Sankey collection. Our museum contains a room devoted especially to Sankey. Please visit our museum and peruse his hymn books or view never seen before Sankey photographs and diaries. Our collection includes the following rarities:

• Letters
• Photographs
• Pamphlets & Papers
• Books & Hymn Books
• The Traveling Organ of Ira D. Sankey & Dwight L. Moody

One of the most famous Lawrence Countians, Ira Sankey, achieved international fame as a singer, evangelist and writer of gospel hymns. His influence through the songs he sang and wrote helped to change the attitude of many in the late 19th century churches from hostility toward “worldly” music to acceptance of gospel hymns as a means of reaching the hearts of believers. Ira David Sankey, son of David Sankey, known as the father of Lawrence County, and Mary Leeper Sankey, was born Aug.28, 1840, at Edinburg. At age 16 he was converted at a revival meeting at the king’s Chapel Church, about three miles from his home. While he was attending a YMCA international convention at Indianapolis in 1870, his singing and leadership came to the attention of Dwight L. Moody, a Chicago evangelist. Sankey, after serving briefly in the Union Army, had married and had two small children and a good job when Moody insisted that he come to Chicago to work with him.

Bowery Rescue Mission, Manhattan, New York

Home to Fanny Crosby's piano

The Chapel: The Great Heart of The Bowery Mission (2009)

What do the following people have in common: Presidents William Howard Taft and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, hymnwriter Fanny Crosby, Governor Al Smith, retailer JC Penney, reformer Eleanor Roosevelt, evangelists Billy Sunday and Billy Graham, and beat writer Jack Kerouac?  They all are a part of the history of The Bowery Mission Chapel.  Written on the occasion of the Chapel’s 100th Anniversary in 2009, The Chapel is a fascinating history written by Christianity Today senior writer Tony Carnes.

Old Rugged Cross Historic Church & Garden

The Old Rugged Cross Foundation, Inc. was formed for the purpose of saving and restoring the old church where the hymn made its public debut, and preserving the history of the hymn and its author. Once restored as closely as possible to its 1913 appearance, the church will serve as a museum, preserving the history of the hymn and the community. The museum will be useful for historical research and the sanctuary will be available to rent for weddings and special services. http://www.the-oldruggedcross.org/whoweare.php

 In 1998, the church was purchased for restoration.^[4] As of 2013, the restoration was 85% complete, with over $800,000 spent.^[5] In 2013 the church received a Governor's Award for Historic Preservation.^[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Methodist_Episcopal_Church_of_Pokagon 

Old Rugged Cross Memorial, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

George Bennard was a native of Youngstown, Ohio but was reared in Iowa. After his conversion in a Salvation Army meeting, he and his wife became brigade leaders before leaving the organization for the Methodist Church. As a Methodist evangelist, Bennard wrote the first verse of "The Old Rugged Cross" in Albion, Michigan, in the fall of 1912^[a] as a response to ridicule which he received at a revival meeting.^[2] Bennard traveled with Ed E. Mieras from Chicago to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin where they held evangelistic meetings at the Friends Church from December 29, 1912 to January 12, 1913. During the meetings Rev. George Bennard finished "The Old Rugged Cross" and on the last night of the meeting before a full house, Bernard and Ed Mieras it as a duet with Pearl Torstensen Berg, organist for the meeting, as accompanist.^[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Rugged_Cross

Friends Community Church, 204 W. Maple St., Sturgeon Bay, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first public singing of the much-beloved song, "The Old Rugged Cross" on Jan. 12 and 13 with the weekend's events culminating in a musical celebration at 2 p.m. that Sunday.
The Rev. George Bennard held evangelistic meetings at the Friends Church when the area was still called Sawyer. During that week he completed the final three stanzas of the now-famous song and sang it for the first time in front of the congregation gathered on the last night of their revival meetings Jan. 12, 1913.

http://www.packersnews.com/article/20130105/ADV01/301050262/-Old-Rugged-Cross-turns-100