Mel Trotter
Encyclopedia
Melvin Ernest Trotter was a former alcoholic who founded and directed the Grand Rapids, Michigan
City Rescue Mission for more than forty years and became a leader in American fundamentalism during the first four decades of the twentieth century.
to a bartender who drank “as much as he served.” In 1887, the family moved to Freeport, Illinois
where Trotter became a barber and was shortly thereafter gambling and drinking heavily. Four years later in Pearl City, Iowa, Trotter married Lottie Fisher, who was horrified to discover that her husband was an alcoholic. Trotter later said, “I loathed the life I was living. I tried my level best, but it wasn’t in me.”
Trotter lost his job in Pearl City, and he and his wife moved to a more rural area in an attempt to help him stay sober. He lost another job and they both moved to Davenport, Iowa
, where Mel tried his hand at selling insurance, a job he lost the day after his son was born.
Trotter began leaving home for weeks at a time, and when he returned after one period of drunkenness, he discovered his two-year-old dead. Believing that he bore the responsibility for the child’s death, he considered suicide. He stood beside the coffin and swore that he would never touch liquor again. Two hours later he was staggering drunk. Hopping a train, he landed in Chicago in January 1897 where he sold his shoes to buy another drink.
Drunk, broke, and shoeless in the snow, Trotter was nudged inside the Pacific Garden Mission
, where he was converted after hearing the testimony of its director, Harry Monroe. Trotter got a barbering job and spent every night at the mission. He could play the guitar and sing, and he and Monroe represented the Mission at its supporting churches.
, and Monroe suggested Trotter—who had never even led a mission meeting—as the director. Conversions occurred at the mission almost immediately when it opened under Trotter’s direction, and Trotter found he could preach and also manage the toughs who tried to disrupt the proceedings. On one occasion he had the crowd sing “More About Jesus” while he tossed the hooligans into the street.
Trotter won Herb Sillaway, another drunken barber, to Christ, and Sillaway then got drunk six times in four weeks and tried to drown himself. Trotter found him in jail in wet clothes and said nothing, just stood in front of him and wept. Sillaway said, “My God, man, I believe you love me.” Trotter replied, “Yes, Herb, I love you like I love my own soul.” Sillaway eventually became Trotter’s assistant.
In 1905, Trotter was ordained by the Presbyterian Church, although even the ordination committee admitted that the ordination (and to some degree, Trotter’s theology) was unorthodox. Within a few years, Trotter had the largest rescue mission in the United States, and in 1906, the organization purchased the local burlesque
house in order to provide more space for its varied ministries.
The Mission Sunday School soon had an attendance of three to five hundred children, who were often fed and clothed as well as evangelized. By 1913, the mission held twenty-three meetings a week, and the building was in constant use twenty-four hours a day providing food, clothing, and lodging. Trotter had prison services, Bible classes and street meetings. His wife began the Martha Mission to teach women how to sew.
Trotter proved remarkably tactful to those who visited the mission, but he was a strong leader with a keen business sense and was adept at raising the necessary funds to keep the Mission doors open. Trotter also helped found dozens of rescue missions around the country, many which were headed by people whom he had trained and inspired. He was a founder of the Brotherhood of Rescue Mission Superintendents, which always held its annual meetings in January in Grand Rapids.
During World War I, Trotter and his musician friend, Homer Hammontree, entertained soldiers in American training camps for the YMCA with music proceeding Trotter’s preaching. (The YMCA was required to amuse as well as minister to the soldiers, so Trotter eventually traveled with a quartet to fulfill the "entertainment" clause rather than be sandwiched between prize fights and movies.) Hammontree estimated that at the close of the war, sixteen thousand soldiers “had come out for the Lord.”
During this second decade of the twentieth century, Trotter was stricken with cancer and his wife left him. Trotter once again considered suicide.
By this time Trotter had become a popular Bible conference speaker, especially at Northfield Bible Conference and the Winona Lake Bible Conference, and by 1924, he was so well known that he finished out a Billy Sunday
campaign in Memphis, Tennessee
. Like Sunday, Trotter became an itinerant evangelist and had wooden tabernacles built for his campaigns. Also like Sunday, he used colloquial speech in his sermons. ("Lots of people go bugs on religion, but nobody ever went crazy on Christianity.") In 1935, Bob Jones College
conferred an honorary doctorate on him. In 1937, he appeared with Harry A. Ironside
in England.
In 1939, Trotter suffered a severe heart attack in Kannapolis, North Carolina
, and died at his summer cottage near Holland, Michigan
in 1940. Ironside was the presiding minister at his funeral. He was buried at the Graceland Mausoleum in Grand Rapids. His papers are at the Billy Graham Center
, Wheaton College
.
At his funeral in 1940, many of Trotter’s friends described what made him a unique personality. One recalled that he would pray with an alcoholic, “then stand him on his feet and say, ‘Now go home and get the wife and kiddies and come down to the Mission tonight.’ Then as they parted, he would slip a dollar bill or a silver dollar in the poor drunkard’s hand. I heard one of those men say, as he stood outside the Mission door, after such a parting, ‘I will die before I spend this dollar for booze.’”
The mission he started, now Mel Trotter Ministries, was still operating in the twenty-first century.
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
City Rescue Mission for more than forty years and became a leader in American fundamentalism during the first four decades of the twentieth century.
Early life
Mel Trotter was one of seven children born in Orangeville, IllinoisOrangeville, Illinois
Orangeville is a village in Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 793 at the 2010 census, up from 751 at the 2000 census. The area's earliest white settlers arrived in 1833 and the village was platted in 1851 by John Bower, who is considered the village founder. In 1867...
to a bartender who drank “as much as he served.” In 1887, the family moved to Freeport, Illinois
Freeport, Illinois
Freeport is a city in and the county seat of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 26,443 at the 2000 census. The mayor of Freeport is George W...
where Trotter became a barber and was shortly thereafter gambling and drinking heavily. Four years later in Pearl City, Iowa, Trotter married Lottie Fisher, who was horrified to discover that her husband was an alcoholic. Trotter later said, “I loathed the life I was living. I tried my level best, but it wasn’t in me.”
Trotter lost his job in Pearl City, and he and his wife moved to a more rural area in an attempt to help him stay sober. He lost another job and they both moved to Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
, where Mel tried his hand at selling insurance, a job he lost the day after his son was born.
Trotter began leaving home for weeks at a time, and when he returned after one period of drunkenness, he discovered his two-year-old dead. Believing that he bore the responsibility for the child’s death, he considered suicide. He stood beside the coffin and swore that he would never touch liquor again. Two hours later he was staggering drunk. Hopping a train, he landed in Chicago in January 1897 where he sold his shoes to buy another drink.
Drunk, broke, and shoeless in the snow, Trotter was nudged inside the Pacific Garden Mission
Pacific Garden Mission
Pacific Garden Mission is a homeless shelter in the South Loop section of Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1877, by Colonel George Clarke and his wife, Sarah. It has been nicknamed, "The Old Lighthouse." It is the oldest such shelter in Chicago...
, where he was converted after hearing the testimony of its director, Harry Monroe. Trotter got a barbering job and spent every night at the mission. He could play the guitar and sing, and he and Monroe represented the Mission at its supporting churches.
Ministry
In 1900, Grand Rapids businessmen decided to establish a rescue mission in the city’s ramshackle red-light districtRed-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
, and Monroe suggested Trotter—who had never even led a mission meeting—as the director. Conversions occurred at the mission almost immediately when it opened under Trotter’s direction, and Trotter found he could preach and also manage the toughs who tried to disrupt the proceedings. On one occasion he had the crowd sing “More About Jesus” while he tossed the hooligans into the street.
Trotter won Herb Sillaway, another drunken barber, to Christ, and Sillaway then got drunk six times in four weeks and tried to drown himself. Trotter found him in jail in wet clothes and said nothing, just stood in front of him and wept. Sillaway said, “My God, man, I believe you love me.” Trotter replied, “Yes, Herb, I love you like I love my own soul.” Sillaway eventually became Trotter’s assistant.
In 1905, Trotter was ordained by the Presbyterian Church, although even the ordination committee admitted that the ordination (and to some degree, Trotter’s theology) was unorthodox. Within a few years, Trotter had the largest rescue mission in the United States, and in 1906, the organization purchased the local burlesque
Burlesque
Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...
house in order to provide more space for its varied ministries.
The Mission Sunday School soon had an attendance of three to five hundred children, who were often fed and clothed as well as evangelized. By 1913, the mission held twenty-three meetings a week, and the building was in constant use twenty-four hours a day providing food, clothing, and lodging. Trotter had prison services, Bible classes and street meetings. His wife began the Martha Mission to teach women how to sew.
Trotter proved remarkably tactful to those who visited the mission, but he was a strong leader with a keen business sense and was adept at raising the necessary funds to keep the Mission doors open. Trotter also helped found dozens of rescue missions around the country, many which were headed by people whom he had trained and inspired. He was a founder of the Brotherhood of Rescue Mission Superintendents, which always held its annual meetings in January in Grand Rapids.
During World War I, Trotter and his musician friend, Homer Hammontree, entertained soldiers in American training camps for the YMCA with music proceeding Trotter’s preaching. (The YMCA was required to amuse as well as minister to the soldiers, so Trotter eventually traveled with a quartet to fulfill the "entertainment" clause rather than be sandwiched between prize fights and movies.) Hammontree estimated that at the close of the war, sixteen thousand soldiers “had come out for the Lord.”
During this second decade of the twentieth century, Trotter was stricken with cancer and his wife left him. Trotter once again considered suicide.
By this time Trotter had become a popular Bible conference speaker, especially at Northfield Bible Conference and the Winona Lake Bible Conference, and by 1924, he was so well known that he finished out a Billy Sunday
Billy Sunday
William Ashley "Billy" Sunday was an American athlete who, after being a popular outfielder in baseball's National League during the 1880s, became the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century.Born into poverty in Iowa, Sunday spent some...
campaign in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. Like Sunday, Trotter became an itinerant evangelist and had wooden tabernacles built for his campaigns. Also like Sunday, he used colloquial speech in his sermons. ("Lots of people go bugs on religion, but nobody ever went crazy on Christianity.") In 1935, Bob Jones College
Bob Jones University
Bob Jones University is a private, for-profit, non-denominational Protestant university in Greenville, South Carolina.The university was founded in 1927 by Bob Jones, Sr. , an evangelist and contemporary of Billy Sunday...
conferred an honorary doctorate on him. In 1937, he appeared with Harry A. Ironside
Harry A. Ironside
Henry Allen "Harry" Ironside was a Canadian-American Bible teacher, preacher, theologian, pastor, and author.-Biography:...
in England.
In 1939, Trotter suffered a severe heart attack in Kannapolis, North Carolina
Kannapolis, North Carolina
Kannapolis is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte. The population was 42,625 at the 2010 census, which makes Kannapolis the 20th largest city in North Carolina...
, and died at his summer cottage near Holland, Michigan
Holland, Michigan
Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River ....
in 1940. Ironside was the presiding minister at his funeral. He was buried at the Graceland Mausoleum in Grand Rapids. His papers are at the Billy Graham Center
Billy Graham Center
The Billy Graham Center was founded and opened in 1981 on the campus of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Named after Billy Graham, the center is the primary location for many of Wheaton College's bible and theology classes, as well as the graduate school's main headquarters, and host to...
, Wheaton College
Wheaton College (Illinois)
Wheaton College is a private, evangelical Protestant liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago in the United States...
.
At his funeral in 1940, many of Trotter’s friends described what made him a unique personality. One recalled that he would pray with an alcoholic, “then stand him on his feet and say, ‘Now go home and get the wife and kiddies and come down to the Mission tonight.’ Then as they parted, he would slip a dollar bill or a silver dollar in the poor drunkard’s hand. I heard one of those men say, as he stood outside the Mission door, after such a parting, ‘I will die before I spend this dollar for booze.’”
The mission he started, now Mel Trotter Ministries, was still operating in the twenty-first century.