USA > Ohio > The Church of the Brethren in northeastern Ohio > Part 8
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Kurtz, and John Wolf were chosen to investigate the project. On May 7, 1910, a vote to build in town carried by a small majority. A building committee, made up of Josiah Kurtz, Benton Bixler, Hiram Carper, A. J. Renneckar, and William Ulrich, was selected in August 1912.
On February 22, 1913, Justin Brumbaugh reported that pledges and labor donated amounted to $6,923.50. It was decided to purchase three lots in the Keiser Orchard for eleven hundred dollars. At the same meeting, plans for the new building were accepted. Josiah Kurtz was the general contractor. On Thanksgiving Day, 1913, Frank F. Holsopple conducted dedication services for the new building.
Until August 4, 1917, the Sunday school and the worship services were held on alternate Sundays in the East Nimishillen house and the Hartville church. On October 25, 1919, Hartville and East Nimishillen became separate congregations.
On November 20, 1919, Hartville held its first business meeting as a separate congregation, with one hundred fifty-two charter members. Elders and ministers living in the congregation at the time of organization were S. S. Shoemaker and Joseph Kimmel. Resident deacons were Isaac D. Brumbaugh, Eli Hershberger, Uriah Kurtz, and Edwin Steffy. A Sunday school and a Christian workers society were inaugurated.
With S. S. Shoemaker and Joseph Kimmel as its free ministers, the congregation grew rapidly. Money was raised by assessments, offerings, and levies on property tax valuation.
On May 8, 1920, Deacon Ira R. Young transferred his membership into the congregation. Deacon Alvin R. Young moved into the church territory on August 14, 1920. A third deacon, O. A. Swab, followed on August 23, 1922.
Evangelistic meetings were first held in the Hartville church in 1920 by H. C. Early. Other ministers who held evangelistic meetings were R. H. Nicodemus (1922), C. L. Wilkins (1923), V. F. Schwalm (1924), J. Perry Prather (1927), J. W. Fidler (1929), Otho Winger (1931), David R. McFadden (1934), M. J. Brougher (1935), J. O. Winger (1936), L. R. Holsinger (1937), S. L. Cover (1938), F. E. Mallott (1939), and I. D. Leatherman (1945).
On May 25, 1925, C. H. Deardorff was engaged as the first resident pastor, to begin on September 1. On February 13,
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1926, Morris Weisel was licensed to the ministry and Aaron Kinsley, Lewis Pontius, and Henry Pontius were elected deacons. On February 8, 1928, Deacons Walter Reichenbach and Samuel Domer transferred their membership into the congregation. Deacon Anthony Kinsley moved into the congregation on October 20, 1929. A. I. Heestand held his membership in the church in 1932.
A project of remodeling the interior of the church was started on June 29, 1927. The center doors were removed at
The Hartville Church
this time. In 1938, paneling was put on the walls and ceiling. Dennis Steffy was in charge of both projects.
By January 1, 1930, the membership had grown to two hundred seventy-two. During the next decade it grew to two hundred eighty-three.
Pastor C. H. Deardorff was succeeded by Clyde Mulligan, who shepherded the church from September 1, 1934, to August 21, 1941. Niels Esbensen became the pastor on September 1, 1942, remaining here until September 1, 1944.
In December 1937, Grayce Brumbaugh, a registered nurse,
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was sent as a missionary to Nigeria. As of the time of this writing she continues her work there.
During the years there have been minor changes made in the church structure. In early 1944, the auditorium was redecorated and an indirect lighting system and a choir loft were installed. In 1948 the platform was extended, making a place for the junior choir. The auditorium and the balcony were decorated again in 1952. Stained-glass windows, which were installed in the fall of 1953, were dedicated on November 1 of that year.
Aubrey R. Coffman, who became our pastor on March 1, 1945, remained here until August 1, 1946. Glen Baird was with us from March 1, 1947, to September 1, 1951. Clarence G. Hesse came on June 1, 1952, and served until June 1, 1958, when he retired from pastoral work. Victor C. Bendsen, our present pastor, took up his duties on July 1, 1958. Under his guidance the church has moved forward with a dedication to service.
The Hartville church celebrated its fortieth anniversary on Sunday, November 22, 1953. Hosts and hostesses for the affair were Ira and Susan Young and Maurice and Helen Harding. The guest speaker was A. Stauffer Curry.
In 1957 the Hartville church became a member of the Stark County Council of Churches and affiliated with the National Council of Churches.
Realizing that the parsonage on South Prospect Avenue was no longer desirable, the congregation sold the house. A lot at 440 West Maple Street, one hundred twenty feet by one hundred seventy-three feet, was then bought. In April 1957, the construction of a new parsonage was started; the house was ready for occupancy by the following September. Brother Hesse moved into it on September 2. A dedication service was held on December 1, with Ralph B. Martin bringing the address.
On January 25, 1959, the Eucharist was observed for the first time in the morning service. Since then we observe the Eucharist in one morning service in January and one in July and the love feast and communion one Sunday in October and on Palm Sunday.
In 1960 the heating system was improved by installing gas; a gas heater and an incinerator were also installed at a
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cost of seven hundred dollars. In the same year the treasurer of the church and the financial secretary were bonded and the financial secretary was covered with a theft-insurance policy.
On August 4, 1961, Mari Mark, a resident of Uppsala, Sweden, came to the United States as an International Christian Youth Exchange student sponsored by the Hartville church at a cost of four hundred dollars. She made her home with Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Harding until mid-July 1962, when she returned to Sweden.
THE KENT CHURCH
The Kent church is the child of the Springfield congregation at Mogadore. Sixty years ago the need for a church in Kent grew apparent. Several of the Brethren, including Nathan Frick, Conrad Brumbaugh, and Joseph Fox, members of the Springfield congregation, had moved to the vicinity of Kent. As the distance was too great for the families to commute to the Springfield church, ministers were sent in the missionary spirit to preach the gospel in Kent. At first the services, held in what is now the Free Methodist church on School Street, were held only once a month. Later, as the interest and the response grew, services were held every two weeks.
This arrangement, however, did not prove entirely satisfactory and the Brethren in Kent felt the need for a church house of their own. Three of the leaders of the Kent community, Nathan Frick, Conrad Brumbaugh, and Joseph Fox, were appointed to investigate the possibilities for a building site. Marvin Kent, the owner of much of the land on which the city of Kent is now built and after whom it was named, offered as a gift the choice of several sites.
On June 10, 1904, the Springfield congregation, in response to the request for a church building in Kent, appointed William Lutz, John Rennecher, and Nathan Frick, all of whom were carpenters, as a building committee. Work was begun immediately. With the help of members and friends, the
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The Old Kent Church
building was completed and dedicated in the fall of 1904. At about the same time a Sunday school was organized. From 1904 to 1918, services were conducted by visiting ministers, of whom the following are known: David Young, George Carper, Jacob Miller, William Bixler, S. A. Kriener, M. S. Young, and Charles Kurtz.
By 1918, however, the future of the Kent church was uncertain, and serious consideration was given to the advisability of disorganizing it. The trustees of the Springfield church reported that they had a buyer for the Kent property and recommended that they be given authority to close the sale. The Kent group turned to the district mission board, urging the board to take over the church. The board agreed and the title to the property was transferred to it. The dividing line between the Springfield church and the Kent mission was fixed at the Brimfield and Suffield Township line.
Emma Miller was our first mission worker in Kent. She was followed by O. P. Haines, a resident of Akron who commuted to preach and pastor the congregation. The earliest extant minutes, dated 1918, show Brother Haines as the
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superintendent of the Sunday school with H. E. Kurtz as his assistant. These minutes further state: "It was decided that as conditions change and needs demand it, ... a more complete organization [would] be effected sometime in the future." These minutes were signed "A. B. Horst, moderator, H. E. Kurtz, clerk."
George W. Kieffaber, a teacher in the Canton schools, was secured to preach. After commuting for a short time, he became the first resident pastor, continuing in that capacity until November 15, 1926. A house just north of the church was secured for a parsonage early in his pastorate.
The church building was moved back from the street line and remodeled. A basement was dug under it, a furnace was installed to replace the two coal stoves which had long been used to heat the building, and electricity replaced the kerosene lamps. Originally the building had two front doors, one on either side of the pulpit. As was the custom at the time of construction, the women used one door and the men the other. The interior of the church was in a similar manner divided by custom, the women sitting on one side of the room and the men on the other. These two doors were replaced by a centered double door. The pulpit was moved to the other end of the room. Dedication services for the rebuilt church were held in June 1923.
John I. Byler became our pastor in 1927 and served until June 1928. Adam H. Miller, who followed him, remained for nearly ten years. The church experienced its greatest growth under his able ministry, becoming less and less dependent on the district mission board, until, on August 2, 1936, the members voted to get along without the aid of the district. On April 23, 1933, Elmer I. Brumbaugh was elected to the ministry. Brother Brumbaugh and Emory Eshelman were ordained to the eldership on October 24, 1937.
During the pastorate of E. A. Edwards of Cherry Lane, Pennsylvania, from May 1, 1938, to April 1, 1941, the church debt was reduced considerably.
G. S. Strausbaugh of Columbiana answered the call of the church and served as our pastor from July 20, 1941, until September 1, 1945. During his pastorate the parsonage, adjacent to the church, was sold and a larger and more suitable house, located at 14 Tonkin Court, back of the church, was purchased.
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The entire indebtedness was erased and the note was burned. Elmer I. Brumbaugh undertook his pastoral duties on a part-time basis on September 1, 1945. In 1960 Edward Angeny became the church's first fully supported pastor.
On December 5, 1945, the finance committee and the trustees met with C. H. Deardorff, the Brotherhood church building counselor from Elgin, Illinois, to discuss the possibilities of remodeling the church. Two days later he met with the congregation in a business meeting and made his report. A findings committee was appointed. This committee reported favorably with more definite plans on February 7, 1946. A building committee, consisting of Clarence Goodhart, Mark Miller, Harold Ebie, Oliver Fought, and Vera Eshelman was appointed. Brother Deardorff returned on April 13 to draw up complete plans for enlarging and remodeling the building. The plans were accepted by the church on April 21, 1946, and work began in earnest on August 19. Eight men and four women met in the evening and raised the rear part of the church. The basement was dug on August 24. Wilbur Shoemaker and a group of men from East Nimishillen put up the addition to the rear of the church, with the help of the men of the congregation, in one day.
At the regular business meeting of December 6, 1946, it was decided to ask Brother Shoemaker to take the oversight of the entire project. The remodeling of the interior was begun February 5, 1947. The total cost, including a new gas furnace, lavatories, a new lighting system, the addition to the building, a new kitchen with cupboards, a remodeled basement, and a completely redecorated auditorium with a balcony, new hardwood floors and woodwork, a pulpit, and a choir loft, was ten thousand, five hundred dollars. Five thousand dollars was borrowed from the General Mission Board of the denomination and one thousand, five hundred from the district mission board. Dedication services were held November 8 and 9. Russell V. Bollinger, dean of students at Manchester College, was the guest speaker.
Ralph E. Wiley was called to the deacon's office December 18, 1947. On June 4, 1948, he was called and licensed to preach and on May 22, 1949, was ordained as a minister. That same fall he, his wife, and their three children moved to Chicago; he attended Bethany Biblical Seminary for one term. In the
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The New Kent Church
spring of 1950 he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and took up the pastorate of the church there.
Wilbur E. Brumbaugh was licensed to preach on June 8, 1952. Following his graduation from Kent State University in 1953 he entered Bethany Biblical Seminary. After some years in the pastoral ministry in California and Oregon, he is currently the assistant editor of Christian education publications for the General Brotherhood Board, with his home in Elgin, Illinois.
Still looking to the future, on March 13, 1953, at a regular quarterly business meeting the church asked the official board to consider a long-range program for the growing congregation. At the business meeting on June 5, 1953, the official board recommended that a committee be selected to investigate the possibility of enlarging the church building. This committee reported that the enlarging of the present building was not feasible and on September 27, 1955, recommended the purchase of a plot of ground on State Route 43, south of Kent, to be the site of a new church building. The site was described as being five and two-thirds acres, with a frontage of two hundred
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fifteen feet on the highway. When the committee recommended that the building then in use be sold, the church voted to accept the recommendation.
At the December 12, 1955, business meeting a building committee was selected and a plan for financing was adopted. The committee became active immediately. Forrest Groff, then the Brotherhood church building counselor, was asked to look over tentative building plans. His helpful suggestions were adopted and the church approved the plans as presented.
Dedication services for the completed church building were held on Saturday and Sunday, December 8 and 9, 1956, with President A. Blair Helman of Manchester College as the speaker.
When Edward T. Angeny, the first full-time pastor, was called to begin his work on September 1, 1960, a major decision had to be made concerning a parsonage. The church decided to build one on the church property. Brick to match the church was used for the two-story structure, which included a pastor's study and a recreation room on the ground level.
With a prayer of thanks for the past leading of God's Spirit and with trust in His continuing presence, the church moves forward.
THE LAKE BREEZE CHURCH
The members of the Lake Breeze congregation met in their new church for the first time on December 17, 1961.
The congregation was first organized in the summer of 1956 when several families met for a prayer meeting and later for Sunday services. Harold Deeter, the pastor at that time of the Black River church, which was nearest to Elyria, helped to start the group. In the fall of 1956, the home mission board assumed the sponsorship of the group, bringing Pastor Delbert Kettering to the church fellowship in the spring of 1957. The group rented the Elyria Y.W.C.A., in which they held services until the completion of their new church house.
Original plans were made to build the church on a
1
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three-acre site south of Elyria, but after one church of another denomination had relocated in the area and two more had purchased sites, the home mission board selected a site in Sheffield, a growing community east of Lorain. This new community includes Sheffield Lake, which is almost totally unchurched, as well as Sheffield, in which housing will develop within the near future. The church is located on Lake Breeze
The Lake Breeze Church
Road, Route 301, one mile south of Lake Erie, on a five-acre site. In August 1960 the pastor and his wife moved into a home in the midst of the new development.
The new church building is of contemporary design. The cost of the first unit has been under fifty thousand dollars. This unit has a seating capacity of one hundred forty plus several classrooms, an office, and a kitchen. The home mission board of Northeastern Ohio has granted eleven thousand dollars and the General Brotherhood Board has loaned thirty-six thousand dollars.
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THE MANSFIELD CHURCH
When John W. Kline, a deacon in the Richland church, moved to Lincoln Heights in the latter part of 1925, through his deep interest in the Lord's work he quickly saw the good opportunity for a new church in that area.
Several other Brethren families were also locating in the same community or in the adjacent city of Mansfield. They were detached from the Richland church by reason of distance, thus forming a nucleus that would become the anchor of a new congregation which could better serve their spiritual needs.
A further incentive developed when two real estate men, Tony Reiser and John Constance, who were developing the Lincoln Heights section, donated two lots as a site for the proposed new church. Brother Kline then presented the opportunity to the Richland church council meeting of February 12, 1926. This brought forth the first official record of any action toward the establishment of the Mansfield church. In a minute of the Richland council meeting on the above date is this statement: "Unanimous rising vote to meet on the Mission Site two weeks from next Sunday, February 28, 1926."
Brother Kline then led the way in organizing a church school in cooperation with the other interested families located in Mansfield and in Lincoln Heights. Another deacon, Robert Fulwider, also lent his earnest support. In addition to the Kline and Fulwider families, there were the actively associated families of William Miller, Howard Kissel, Ralph Grubb, Eli Brown, and Omra Workman.
The next official step was taken when recommendations were presented to the Richland council meeting on May 21, 1926, as follows: "#1-To make Lincoln Heights Mission permanent. #2- To invite the District Mission Board in, to look over the field and recommend, and the Elder to report conclusions to the church. #3 - That the church engage Sister Etta Helman to work in both the church and mission." These recommendations were adopted by a unanimous rising vote.
George S. Strausbaugh was the elder-in-charge. He ruled that while the recommendations as adopted were being carried out, the officers and the Sunday-school superintendent of the
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Richland church were to act in the same capacities for the mission, the two being still one organization; that the officers as now elected were acting for one group only, with two preaching points, until the mission might receive authority to operate in its own right.
According to this ruling, William L. Desenberg served as pastor, and a deacon, C. E. Copeland, as the Sunday-school superintendent both at the Richland church and at the mission until October 1, 1926. Likewise, all elected committees of the Richland church served the two locations. During this period both groups united in the morning services at Richland and the afternoon services of the Lincoln Heights mission were held in the Stewart Road school building. The same church officers and committees acted for both groups until officers were separately selected on September 1, 1930, by the Lincoln Heights mission council. On October 1, 1926, the mission perfected its own separate Sunday-school organization, as authorized by the Richland council meeting of July 16, 1926, as follows: superintendent, Ralph Grubb; assistant, Etta Helman; secretary, Marie Boyce; treasurer, Howard Kissel; and chorister, Etta Helman.
The separate election of church officers and committees was authorized by the Richland council meeting on December 16, 1929, to take effect with the officers elected on October 1, 1930, the start of the next regular church year.
William L. Desenberg was the minister for both groups until September 1, 1927. J. W. Fyock then became the joint pastor of both groups. The first revival meeting in the Lincoln Heights mission was held in April 1928 and the first baptisms were on May 3, 1928, at the Bowman Street Brethren church. Four were baptized, the first ones so received by the mission from the above revival, viz .: Pauline Miller, Mrs. Christ Kanz, and her two daughters, Kathryne and Susan.
The official name of the Lincoln Heights mission was changed in a council meeting in March 1941 to the First Church of the Brethren, Mansfield, Ohio, upon adoption of a constitution for the conduct of the affairs of the church.
On June 12, 1938, a cornerstone-laying service was held on the donated site at the corner of Grace Street and Indiana Avenue, in Lincoln Heights. Funds for the erection of the church building were provided by the district mission board,
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which also subsidized the pastoral support. On November 6, 1938, the new church was dedicated.
The following year the pastor, W. Glenn McFadden, who had served the congregation on a part-time basis for ten years, resigned. The church then called Roland L. Showalter, who was with us until 1943. He was followed by Harold I. Deeter, who remained here until 1946. Carl E. Yoder came during 1946 and was here one year. He was followed by Isaiah and Elizabeth Oberholtzer, returned missionaries to China, who
The Mansfield Church
ministered to the congregation until 1952, when W. Dwight Smith was called to the pastorate. Then, in 1955, following the resignation of Brother Smith, the church called William E. Walters, also voting at this time to assume full pastoral support.
In a council meeting in 1957, the church voted unanimously to enlarge the present facilities. Climaxing a three-year commitment to the raising of a building fund, on Easter Sunday morning, April 2, 1961, the congregation gathered on the church lawn and, standing in two inches of snow, broke ground for a new sanctuary. On December 17, 1961, the
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hundred-thousand-dollar edifice was dedicated to God and His work.
The church has a present membership of one hundred ninety-four, only ten of whom are nonresident members. The parsonage is located at 486 Indiana Avenue. The church has recently incorporated and is now officially known as the First Church of the Brethren, Inc., Mansfield, Ohio.
One deacon, C. E. Copeland, was added by transfer of membership after the congregation was established. Deacons who have been elected are Charles B. Kline, Edwin Jacoby, Howard Erbaugh, Paul Garverick, Dale Fulwider, Homer Weaver, Roy Ward, Clayton Domasky, and Richard Hanlon.
THE MAPLE GROVE CHURCH
The Maple Grove congregation was organized in 1860. A church house was built the same year on land given by John B. Myers. It is believed that Brother Myers, who moved into the territory from Somerset, Pennsylvania, in 1853, was the first minister and elder of the congregation.
Other elders living in the congregation at the time of its organization were Elias Dickey, Jacob Garver, Joseph Rittenhouse, and Morgan Workman. Ministers were Joseph Showalter, Moses Weaver, and Isaac Smoker. Deacons were John Beeghly, William Ramsey, Jacob Cart, Peter Deshong, Martin Hogue, and George Shidler.
Services were held in private homes about every four weeks. After the move into the church building, services were held every two weeks. Later, they were held every Sunday. The responsibility for the services was usually divided between the English-speaking and the German-speaking ministers.
As time passed, the growth of the congregation demanded more space. A communion room, a Sunday-school room, and a kitchen were added to the church house.
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