History of River of Life

The Earliest Days

Charles Bigelow trudged slowly up the 2nd Street Hill toward the Log Tavern. It was a Sunday morning in 1854 and all commercial enterprise had ended when the last of the Saturday night revelers had stumbled out of the building. The place was a mess and the smell of stale beer filled his nostrils. He had a lot of work to do. The meeting was less than an hour away and he had to clean up. The agreement was, “You can have the place for free, but you have to clean it up first. That way I can sleep it off without having to get up for anything.”

Charles moved tables and picked up chairs. He swept up broken glass, took out the garbage, and then he mopped the floor with water, and scrubbed it with lye soap. He even wiped the bar and straightened the bottle displays. It actually smelled clean in there when he was through with it. He was doing this for God’s glory and that meant doing his best to make the place presentable for a group of faithful souls who were due to meet there within the hour. Soon anywhere from ten to twenty-five people would transform this tavern into a holy place.

The Reverend Edwin Cressy of Prescott, Wisconsin made the journey to Hastings to lead worship that day, a trip he could manage only once every six to eight weeks. Hastings was little more than a frontier outpost at the end of the road. The railroad stopped there, river commerce was just beginning, and only a handful of homes dotted the hillside near the Mississippi River valley. Yet in that humble place, God was already at work.

A Continuing Gospel Witness

That Sunday gathering in the Log Tavern marked the beginning of a Gospel witness that has endured for more than a century and a half. What started with a small group of believers meeting wherever space could be found would officially organize as First Baptist Church on August 10, 1856. In the years that followed, the congregation worshiped in schoolhouses and shared spaces, adapting with patience and faith as the church slowly took root in the community.

By the end of 1856, the church called its first full-time pastor, the Rev. J. C. Hyde, beginning a long and faithful line of pastoral leadership. Since then, generation after generation of pastors have shepherded this congregation, preaching the Word, baptizing believers, discipling families, and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Hastings and beyond. Through seasons of growth, challenge, and change, the church has remained anchored in its mission to glorify God and make Christ known.