The Seventh Day Baptist Church is a

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 church built in 1934 in

Milton, Wisconsin Milton is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,716 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History The city was formed as a result of the 1967 merger of the villages of Milton and Milton Junction. In No ...

. It was added to 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 ...

in 2016. In the 1500s and 1600s, one of the issues driving

Anabaptists Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. The term (tra ...

to split from the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and the early Protestant denominations was

infant baptism Infant baptism, also known as christening or paedobaptism, is a Christian sacramental practice of Baptism, baptizing infants and young children. Such practice is done in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, va ...

. But the Anabaptists themselves divided over various issues. The

Seventh Day Baptist Seventh Day Baptists are Baptists who observe the Sabbath as the seventh day of the week, Saturday, as a holy day to God. They adopt a theology common to Baptists, profess the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice, perform the conscious b ...

Church was founded in 1650 in London, holding that the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

should be observed on Saturday instead of Sunday - an interpretation of the Fourth Commandment.. In the late 1600s some of these Baptists from England migrated to the new world, and in the summer of 1838 some of their descendants arrived on the frontier of southern Wisconsin, staking claims near Prairie du Lac, which is now Milton. Henry Crandall and

Joseph Goodrich Joseph Goodrich (May 12, 1800 – October 9, 1867) was an American pioneer, businessman, and politician. Born in Hancock, Massachusetts, Goodrich moved to Stephentown, New York, in 1812, to live with an uncle where he was involved with farmi ...

went back east to bring their families while James Pierce stayed behind to watch their claims. After they returned, the families held their first Seventh Day Baptist meeting in 1839. They agreed to meet on Saturdays so that none would be tempted to Sunday worship by other Protestant settlers in the neighborhood. In 1852 they constructed a church on the site of the current building, on land donated by Goodrich. The congregation grew and expanded the church building several times by 1882, and again in 1902. But in November 1932 their church burned, a total loss. Though this was in the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, the congregation decided to rebuild. They hired Milwaukee architect Hugo C. Haeuser and he designed the new church in late Gothic Revival style, clad in

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. Gothic Revival hallmarks are the pointed arches over many of the windows and doors and the

buttresses A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act a ...

. The

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

and

half-timbering Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...

in the gable ends and the

battlements A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

on the square tower are more typical of

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

style, which was popular in the early 20th century. The type of limestone that veneers the walls is common for Haueser's churches, quarried near Lannon, Wisconsin northwest of Milwaukee. Inside, the lower level contains a fellowship hall, kitchen and classrooms. The upper level is the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, with a

vaulted ceiling In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

supported by exposed beams. Other than the addition of an education wing in 1984, the 1934 building is largely intact. It was listed on the NRHP as a distinctive example of Gothic Revival architecture in Milton and for its association with Haeuser, a master-architect of churches.

References

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External links

Church website
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Rock County, Wisconsin Churches in Rock County, Wisconsin Baptist churches in Wisconsin 20th-century Baptist churches in the United States Gothic Revival church buildings in Wisconsin Churches completed in 1934 1934 establishments in Wisconsin