The Bradford Community Church, originally the Henry M. Simmons Memorial Church and later the Boys and Girls Library, is a historic church built in 1907 in

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Wisconsin, fourth-most populous city in Wisconsin, with a population of 99,986 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. S ...

, United States under the leadership of Kenosha's first woman pastor.

History

The Henry M. Simmons Memorial Church was built in 1907 for pastor Florence Buck. Buck was ordained at the Meadville Theological School in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and came to

to preach in 1901. She was the first woman to have a ministry in Kenosha and was involved in the design of the church. Buck was later named the acting director of the Department of Religious Education for the

American Unitarian Association The American Unitarian Association (AUA) was a religious denomination in the United States and Canada, formed by associated Unitarian congregations in 1825. In 1961, it consolidated with the Universalist Church of America to form the Unitarian ...

. The building was designed by N. Max Dunning, a Kenosha native. With . In 1929, the church was purchased by the city of Kenosha. It was converted into the "Boys and Girls Library," for the youth of the community, and was dedicated on April 12, 1929 as the first dedicated children's library in the state and the third in the country. Closed in 1979 after five decades of service, the city then sold the building to a private developer, beginning a period where it was used for various restaurants and bars. On October 24, 1980, the building was recognized by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

with a listing on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The Kenosha Chapter of the Unitarian Universalist Church purchased the building in 1993, restoring it to the Unitarian Universalist Association. It was renamed the Bradford Community Church after Mary D. Bradford, an educational reformer who was also a leader in the original congregation, and after whom one of Kenosha's public high schools was also named. In 2020, the adjoining car lot was burned during the

Kenosha unrest In the aftermath of the August 2020 police shooting of Jacob Blake, protests, riots, and civil unrest occurred in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and around the United States as part of the larger United States racial unrest and Black Lives Matter movemen ...

Architecture

The church was designed in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style. The limestone building sits on a differently-coursed limestone foundation. The main building has a prominent water table. The northeast corner of the church features a crenelated square tower. The double-door entrance, centered on the tower on the main facade, is in a pointed arch with stone molding. The rest of the building is a gable-roofed nave. The main facade of this gable features a large decorative leaded glass window. A small organ room was built on the north side of the building; this room was later used as a chapel and now serves as the minister's office and library.

References

{{List of Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist churches, state=autocollapse Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Public libraries in Wisconsin Unitarian Universalist churches in Wisconsin Buildings and structures in Kenosha, Wisconsin Churches completed in 1907 Gothic Revival church buildings in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Kenosha County, Wisconsin