Brookside Community Church (Methodist Episcopal) had its beginning as a Sunday School, begun in 1913. It is unknown where this Sunday School was located. The Brookside Improvement Association met at the “Sunday School Building” from at least June 10, 1914, and met at the church for the first time on April 12, 1916. This gives credence to the theory that these were in two different locations.
On March 15, 1915, Brookside Methodist Church was incorporated. The church bought the property at 4241 Brookside Avenue, which included a small cottage.
The photos above are from the Aldersgate Advance from April 30, 1950. Perhaps the first sketch is of the Sunday School, but the second photo does not look like the cottage or the building as it was in 1950. Clarification needed!
In 1915 the cottage was moved away and a new building was built, measuring 24 x 40 with a basement. In April 1918 the Brookside Improvement Association voted to provide $15 to erect a toilet in the rear of the church. The building was enlarged in 1927 and 1934. From the 1950 Advance:
When activities were held in the little basement, it was frequently necessary to mop up the water which had seeped in during the interval between meetings, before they could begin. Dry kindling wood was an important item to bring along when starting out for such a meeting. When suppers were served in this basement, drinking water had to be carried a distance of two blocks, but such inconveniences did not dim the spirit of the people who participated.
In 1926, Rev. Munson was listed as the pastor of the Brookside Community Church in the Hennepin County Review.
In 1928 Dr. Frank Edward Day became pastor, and built the church membership from 32 to 200. He retired in 1935.
In 1946 Brookside Church merged with the Methodist Meeting House, and the combined church was renamed Aldersgate.
Brookside Church, 1950
In 1950 the original Brookside church building became the First Church of Christ Scientist of St. Louis Park, and was attended by the nearby Jackley family and Mrs. Smith of the Colonial Inn, among others. In 1958 a Christian Science Reading Room was located at 5407 Excelsior Blvd. Due to dwindling membership, Christmas Day, 1988, was the last day of services for the Christian Scientist in the Brookside building.
On March 12, 1989, 84 members dedicated Anglican Church of St. Dunstan. The congregation had been meeting in the Edina-Morningside Community Congregational Church and purchased the small building for $175,000. The church is the only ACA Anglican Church in the State of Minnesota. There is an Anglican mission church in Hopkins, but St. Dunstan’s is a full Anglican Church.
