140 Years of Jesus in Idaho Falls

Of the many ways and times that Christians in Idaho Falls have come together to pray, one has been on National Days of Prayer. The history of what for the last 70 years or so has been called the National Day of Prayer can be traced to the Continental Congress and George Washington:                General Orders [of George Washington], Headquarters, Middle Brook, Monday, April 12, 1779: “… The Honorable Congress having recommended it to the United States to set apart Thursday the 6th of May next to be observed as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer, to acknowledge the gracious interpositions of Providence; to deprecate [to pray or entreat that a present evil may be removed] deserved punishment for our Sins and Ingratitude, to unitedly implore the Protection of Heaven; Success to our Arms and the Arms of our Ally: The Commander in Chief enjoins a religious observance of said day and directs the Chaplains to prepare discourses pro...

  Milligan Road in Idaho Falls runs south along the west bank of the Snake River starting near Buffalo Wild Wings and McKenzie River Pizza.[1]   The G. H. Milligan family moved to Idaho from Iowa sometime between 1895 and 1900.[2]   The father, George Haven Milligan, was a farmer.   George, with his first wife Eunice, who died in 1892, had three sons and three daughters.   George remarried in 1894, to Martha Breckenridge, and he gained a stepson and four stepdaughters,[3] and about a year later another daughter.   Out of these twelve children, the oldest being 19 and youngest 6 in 1900, the census that year of Idaho Falls and vicinity shows nine.[4]   One other daughter, Adeline (or Addie), was brought up in the home of her aunt in Iowa but sometime prior to 1910 moved to Idaho Falls.[5]   Adeline married in Idaho Falls in 1912, to William A. Wilson, and was active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Methodist Church in Idaho Falls...

  One of the many expressions of the unity of the body of Christ in Idaho Falls has been meeting together in joint services during Holy Week and/or on Resurrection Sunday. As early as 1899, members of the different churches in Idaho Falls met together on Easter Sunday.[1] On Easter Sunday, 1901, Union services were held in both the morning and evening, in the morning at the Catholic church, “largely attended by all religious sects,” and in the evening at the Presbyterian church, “attended by a full house,” with pastors of three churches leading the service.[2] Beginning around 1920 and for more than 30 years, Union services were held in Idaho Falls nightly during Passion Week, typically starting on Palm Sunday and going through Good Friday. In 1922, for example, “Passion week services are being held this week at the Trinity Methodist church under the auspices of the Idaho Falls Ministerial association, with representatives of the Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran churches a...