Under the heading
of “Modern History, A New Church” the January 1985 issue of the Interlaken
Historical Society newsletter shared several quotes from an earlier issue of
the Interlaken
Review
and shared photographs taken by then Town Historian Maurice Patterson.
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| The completed building, November 1984 Interlaken Historical Society photo collection #1558 |
The local branch of
the Jehovah’s Witness had purchased property from Dudley Wilson at the point of
State Route 96 and Footes Corners, just north of the village.
Leaders within the
church shared their plans for a remarkable building project. “Beginning at 7:00
AM, Saturday, November 3rd, and straight through the night until Sunday
evening, a unique event will occur…more than 1,000 volunteers from four states
will converge on the site to erect in one weekend a 2,200 sq. ft. house of
worship called a Kingdom Hall.”
With the cement
slab already in place, “walls will rise, a roof will be put on, and siding will
be installed. Plumbing, electrical work, a sound system, dry wall, cabinets, carpeting,
chairs, and stonework are among the things that will be done to produce a
completely landscaped building…”
In response to the
question of why they were building in this manner, the two-part answer was straightforward.
“First, by doing the job quickly, it is less disruptive to the neighborhood
and, secondly, since all involved are volunteers of Jehovah's Witnesses who are
also active ministers in their own congregations, they are able to accomplish
in one weekend that which would normally take them away from their
congregational and family activities for up to six months with normal construction schedules.”
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| Volunteers working on the roof of the new church, November 1984. |
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| Meals were taken standing up in the tent, November 1984 |
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| Volunteers and visitors were on site to watch the progress, November 1984 Interlaken Historical Society photo collection #1558 |
Today the building is awaiting a new use. The chicken barn in the background of the 1984 picture has been replaced with a new pole barn.
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| Photo for the author's collection. |
Dewitt’s Diary, Tuesday, November
3, 1964
Temperature 44, cloudy.
A high for Election Day of 70
degrees is predicted.
The election between Johnson
(Democrat) and Goldwater (Republican) has been bitterly fought.
Went down to vote after dinner.
Put our tools in for the winter.
Cleaned out old corn house and tool shed. Bagged up 25 bags of corn.
Warm and still, mostly sunny all
day. A perfect election day.
Johnson was elected president and
the Democrats are in power.
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