[Music] welcome to the Rapids historical marker project presented by the Rapids historical commission and CTN Studios youve accessed information regarding the historical marker for the Joyce Chapel long ago what stood next to this Cemetery was the Joyce Chapel a modest woodframe building built in 1902 it was the first church built in the NOA Township many early residents of what is now the city of Rapids were Irish Catholics who attended services at St Stevens in the town of enoka protestant worshippers travel to enoka or Champlain to attend church in 1900 James Carter an inoka blacksmith and member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of in inoka wanted to establish a church for the Protestant farmers who lived east of the city of inoka in December 1901 a quarterly Conference of the yoa Methodist church incorporated the new rural congregation under the name of Joyce chapel after Bishop Isaac W Joyce Methodist Bishop of Minnesota B shatak donated a half acre site for the church building and Cemetery in January 1902 the Cornerstone of the chapel was laid by Joseph Holden of Anoka and the work of the building began in full force directed by Eric Johnson Building the facility was a community effort all of the labor was donated by the members using a nail keg as a Pulpit James Carter preached the first sermon to members Seated on chairs and boxes brought from home the nail keg was replaced the following Sunday by what was described as a fine Pulpit made and presented by the Reed and Sherwood Lumber Company of Anoka along with Mr Carter Ezra Clemens was also a pastor of the new church Clemens is the cousin of Samuel Clemens better known as Mark Twain in 1909 the membership of Joyce Chapel had grown so much it now had a strong financial position and broke away from the Anoka Methodist Church it had become a church Community all of its own it is interesting to note the number of women who served as pastors at Joyce Chapel one of these women was Reverend Mrs AA Gates Stout a free Baptist Minister appointed to Joyce Chapel in October 1912 she helped arrange a unique partnership during her time of leadership she invited the Baptists in the area who had no church of their own to organize a class in worship with the methodists this was an unusual Arrangement at the time but it's helped to bring about several positive developments within the church under Reverend Stout's leadership the ladies Aid Society Christian Endeavor society and Farmers Club were created groups that help the community in a variety of ways Mrs Stout served served as pastor of Joyce Chapel from 1912 to 1916 Reverend Edith Grace took over as pastor at Joyce Chapel in 1916 and served the church for 12 years prior to arrival at Joyce Chapel Grace had a history of service with the church of enoka she took over pastoral duties for her husband after he became ill Reverend Gray's Direction helped build a strong church and a Sunday school as well as a strong financial position which allowed all of its bills to be paid in full big changes came for the church in 1954 as the Rapids Village Council purchased the Joyce Chapel for $2,500 to use the building as a temporary Town Hall the building stood for over 40 more years serving several different purposes including a city hall real estate office and music store until in 1999 when it was taken down to widen Hansen Boulevard the history of Joyce Chapel lives on here today as the cemetery remains A Link to the Past a resting place for some of the Church's founding members [Music]