Free access: Calendar - Directory - Intro - Help	Members only: (please read these instructions) home - iowacoc members - congregations

A Bit of Iowa Church History

I had read of a rock in Dubuque that recognized the first meeting of the church of Christ in Iowa. On October 14 of this year (2003) we went to Dubuque to try to locate this rock. We found it in a park not far from the Julian Dubuque Memorial. It states the organizational meeting was held October 1, 1835. Some dates that will help bring this date into prospective are:

• 1824 The first meeting between Barton W Stone and Alexander Campbell
• 1830 Settlers moved into Dubuque,Iowa
• 1831-1832 Followers of Campbell, Stone, Raccoon John Smith, John T Johnson, and others met in
  Kentucky.
• 1834 Barton Stone moves to Illinois
• 1835 First meeting of the church in Iowa

We were excited to find the rock. We spent the following day enjoying God's creation as we drove along the Mississippi River and enjoyed the beauty of the leaves.

Walt Wilson
1931 East 27th Court
Des Moines, IA 50317
515-266-6137