Category Archives: Family

City Transformation: Fulfilling our long-time callings

• Pray for the new arrivals in our city, whether they came from the next county or from another nation.  Pray that they make solid relational connections, obtain work that will meet their needs, and become contributing members of our community.

There are characteristics and callings for our city that have grown out of our earliest days.  This week we will be praying for God’s purposes in these “roots” of our city to be fulfilled.  Each day we will leverage the history of a downtown building to guide our prayers (Reference).

Caledonian Hall
20 East Bijou Street
Built circa 1902 / Architect unknown
East Addition late 1930’s / Architect unknown
No. 25

This is a two-part, two-story Late Victorian commercial building that consists of a circa 1902 brick façade to the west and a narrower stuccoed section to the east (constructed perhaps in the late 1930’s). Its first recorded use was as a Caledonian Hall, organized to promote camaraderie “ among persons of
Scottish birth and descent, and propagate of love for the music, literature and
ancient games of Scotland.” Other fraternal societies, including the Soldiers and
Sailors Club, also used this Hall. George Wright, a local contractor and proprietor of the Hall may have been the builder, but the name of the architect is undiscovered. Artists, carpenters and contractors also rented space here. The eastern portion of the building provided residential apartments upstairs, and retail space and offices for a variety of tenants on the ground floor.