Area church marks 175 years

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September 4, 2010

Anonymous MEADVILLE TRIBUNE The Meadville Tribune Sat Sep 04, 2010, 12:00 AM EDT

UNION TOWNSHIP — Decades and decades of northwestern Pennsylvania weather has worn smooth the bricks on its outer walls. The floorboards creak beneath its thick maroon carpet. Some of its windows are more than a century old.

These aren’t descriptions of some fixer-upper in a real estate magazine. They are each charming reminders of the rich, palpable history this structure possesses.

Those creaking boards slope gracefully down toward the altar. Those old windows are made of brilliantly colored stained glass. And those worn bricks form the walls of a beloved place of worship for generation upon generation of Meadville area residents.

The place is St. John’s Community Church of God, located on Mercer Pike in Union Township. It turns 175 years old this month.

Windows and bell

“In the morning, when the sun comes in on that widow — ooh, wow. It’s beautiful,” said Meadville’s Janet Bean, a longtime member of St. John’s.

She’s referring to the large set of stained glass windows on the structure’s south side. They’ve been in place since St. John’s was reconstructed in 1900. And they are the only ones that survived a cyclone that nearly demolished the building back in 1924. The rest of the church’s stained glass windows are replacements.

“They were all colored like that one,” Bean says. “But after the cyclone came through they couldn’t get ones to match it because no one made those deep, bright colors.”

Bean, in her 70s, has been attending the church since she was born. All three of her children were married in it. Her husband, Paul, rings the church bell each Sunday.

“The kids want to do it,” said Janet, “but that doesn’t work too well because ...

“They would overturn it,” says Paul.

“They would overturn it and then it wouldn’t work,” Janet adds.

Experience, it seems, matters in a church bell ringer. And for some people it matters in the church itself.

“I have a friend of mine that just got a church down in Pittsburgh,” said the Rev. Marsha Mitchell, the church’s pastor since 2008. “And I went down to visit, and it’s a beautiful church. But it’s very modern.

“There’s so much history here (at St. John’s). I think it’s just such a beautiful church. It’s a warm church.”

A look back

On Sept. 12, St. John’s will hold a special service commemorating the church’s anniversary. It starts at 10:30 a.m. and an open house follows from noon to 3 p.m.

“Hopefully, we’ll get some of the neighbors and maybe some of the people that have left to come back,” Mitchell said. “Not to stay, if they don’t want to. But because it is a big day — 175 years.”

The service will begin with a German song, honoring the immigrants who established St. John’s back in 1835.

In 1835, Andrew Jackson was in his second term as U.S. president. Mark Twain was born. Slavery was legal, and the Civil War still lay more than a quarter-century in the country’s future.

For its first couple of years, the people of St. John’s — which was then a Reformed Church — met in a log house owned by the Weber family. It’s first pastor was the Rev. Philip Zeiser.

The people of St. John’s constructed their first proper church building between 1836 and 1837. It was located across the street from the church’s current location on an acre of land that was purchased for $4.

That building was destroyed by fire in November 1899, which led to the construction of St. John’s current home.

The construction of the new church, completed in 1900, cost around $15,000. It had sheds in the back where people could park their horses. And out front it had an ornate wood-frame bell tower, which was knocked over in the same cyclone that claimed many of the church’s original stained glass windows.

“They said that it was almost beyond repair (after the cyclone),” said Rev. Mitchell. “But they went ahead and did it.”

A look ahead

On display for the anniversary celebration are numerous pictures taken throughout St. John’s long history.

There’s one particular photo hanging in the corner of the display. It’s undated, but it appears to be from the turn of the 20th century, not long after the current church was built.

The sepia-toned image shows a rather large crowd assembled outside the church. The women are in their puffy, elaborate dresses, donning wide brimmed, feathered hats; and the men are in their bowler caps and dark wool suits. Everyone gazes right into the camera. No one smiled for photos back then.

It’s likely that these are the ancestors of people still living in the area, some of whom perhaps still worship at St. John’s. No one is sure, though. The people in the photo are unidentified. They are long gone and their names are forgotten.

St. John’s still stands.

“I consider it a privilege and an honor to serve at this church,” said Mitchell. “That’s what part of my message is going to be — honoring those who have gone before us, that have made it what it was today.

“Also, what legacy are we going to leave? Not just me, but everyone that’s attending here?”

She adds, “When I first came here, I was just overwhelmed by the beauty of this church. That’s how I see it. I believe, right now, at this point and time in my life, this is where I’m meant to serve. And, interestingly enough, I also believe that this will be my only church. I believe that when I’m done here, I will be done.

“Not that I will go ‘Home’ right then,” she laughs. “But I’ll go back to Oil City.”

Pete Chiodo can be reached at 724-6370 ext. 275 or by e-mail at pchiodo@meadvilletribune.com.

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