The Original Old Rugged Cross Church
Pokagon, Cass County, Michigan
The
Original Old Rugged Cross
Church
Pokagon, Cass County,
Michigan
A Brief History
The Original Old Rugged Cross Church in Pokagon, Michigan, is the former First Methodist Episcopal Church of Pokagon. The structure was built as a hops barn in 1862 and used for several purposes until it was enlarged and remodeled into a church beginning in 1876.
There, in 1913, visiting Methodist evangelist Rev. George Bennard sang his newly completed hymn, “The Old Rugged Cross,” publicly for the first time.
Rev. Bennard sold the rights to “The Old Rugged Cross” to the gospel music publisher, Homer Rodeheaver Company, of Winona Lake, Ind. In 1909, Rodeheaver had joined evangelist William A. “Billy” Sunday to serve as a vocal soloist and song leader for Sunday’s many U.S. and international gospel crusades.
“The Old Rugged Cross” was performed during Billy Sunday’s evangelistic crusades and became one of the Christian faith’s most beloved hymns. In a matter of a few years, the hymn was earning royalties from across the world, and it regularly appeared atop U.S. “favorite hymn” surveys. It still appears in today’s church hymnals and is recorded by today’s musical artists.
The executive director of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada has said that this hymn, “perhaps more than any other, exerted a widespread influence in altering the attitudes of many … congregations about the use of traditional symbols in their worship spaces. One of the obvious changes is that the earlier space was nearly always devoid of any overt religious symbols (except those that might be incorporated into stained glass designs), yet the current space for the same congregation often predominantly displays a cross and/or other symbols.”
Soon after the hymn’s debut, the Pokagon congregation sold their church and moved to another nearby building, now the Pokagon United Methodist Church. The hymn’s debut site was used as a storage barn for more than 80 years and was near collapse when purchased for restoration in 1998 by Robert and Mary Shaffer of Dowagiac, Michigan.
The Shaffers formed The Old Rugged Cross Foundation, a multi-denominational volunteer 501(c)3 tax-exempt corporation, to restore, maintain and operate the building as a museum and location for Christian services such as weddings and funerals.
Individuals dipping into their wallets and purses to support the work have funded the majority of the restoration work on the Church.
The following designations recognize The Original Old Rugged Cross Church’s significance to the nation:
-- Named an Official Project of Save America’s Treasures (1999)
-- Designated as a Registered Michigan Historic Site (2000)
-- Originally listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 1, 2002, at the State level of historic significance. On April 29, 2003, additional documentation was approved and the Church’s National Register listing was revised to the National level of historic significance. It was the first Cass County National Register listing to achieve the national level of historic significance.For more information, contact The Old Rugged Cross Foundation at 269-683-4540, or orcf@aol.com.
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