Reverend George Bennard penned the hymn while traveling between Michigan and Wisconsin from 1912 to early 1913 and the exact origin is disputed among the towns he visited, but history tells it was first brought to life in Sturgeon Bay.
Morgan Mann, a member of Friends Community Church, says the song was first performed in its entirety at her congregation on January 12, 1913.
Eye-witness accounts from that night can be found in "The Story of the Old Rugged Cross", published by Reverend John H. Baxter in 1947.
Mann says the book will be available for purchase next Saturday and Sunday as part of the celebration that Friends Community Church is hosting to celebrate the anniversary.
Documents and other items related to the first singing of "The Old Rugged Cross" will be on display beginning at 2 p.m. January 12 at Friends Community Church. Then on Sunday Mann says all are welcome to a soup brunch at noon with a revival-type celebration to follow at 2 p.m.
