Saturday, July 12, 2014

Different Attitudes About Debt - St. John's Church, St. Louis, 1895

I saw a letter from the Pastor of St. John's Church in St. Louis to his congregation in 1895. Here is an excerpt:

St. Louis, March 10th, 1895.

A mortgage of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) has been hanging over St. John's Church since 1877. It is our desire to pay it within two years, as we will celebrate the Golden Jubilee of this parish in 1898. With the church free of this burden, it will be an easy matter to manage the rest of the debt. We ask for as large a subscription, payable in one or two years, as each individual can possibly make. Even the children can promise to set aside their spare nickels during '95 and '96. [...]

James Thomas Coffey, Pastor.
$10,000 in 1895 is $275,000 today (a 94% loss of purchasing power).

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