127 years ago, in what is now Wilderness Park, near 1st and Calvert Street, was the first session of the Nebraska Epworth assembly, August 3rd through 10th, 1897.
At the time, this area called Lincoln Park was a refuge for Lincolnites to find peace along Salt Creek. As a column advertised in the Nebraska State Journal, July 31st, 1897, Lincoln Park was two hundred acres of wood and dell for camping, with Salt Creek described as a great place for boating. To help those attend the new assembly, the electric rail car company offered reduced rates. Also advertised was a long list of orators and performances scheduled.
Epworth Hall would support 1,000 seats and the larger amphitheater had a capacity of over 3,000. With so much space to camp and assemble this was truly the makings of one of the largest gatherings west of the Missouri.
The first report from the actual assembly in the Nebraska State Journal August 4th, 1897, depicts the arrival of 6,000 guests. This number was much more than planned and those working the event spent long hours building a tent city.
A quote from Dr. Halstead of St. Paul’s Church, “When you build a great city in three days there always is confusion. When confusion abounds we all become easily acquainted and no one has opportunity to become lonesome”.
Although much pandemonium ensued the first days of the “Great Assembly” this was the first of a grand tradition every August in what we now enjoy as Wilderness Park.
-Adam Hintz, Executive Director of Friends of Wilderness Park
