History of Church
I have been asked [by the Worship Committee] to write a few words concerning the communion table, pulpit, and choir director’s music stand being used in our worship services during remodeling. All three of these items are from the “old” church … the 1896 building. The “old” church is the one that we used when I was a child. The Activities building was added in the Spring of 1956 when I was seven years old. In 1963 the old church caught fire on Thursday evening. The fire was put out and we had church in the building the next Sunday. The building still smelled a little smoky but everyone attributed that to the lingering smell from the fire on Thursday. However, the timbers in the rafters hid some still smoldering sparks and that Sunday evening the whole building became engulfed in flames …the entire building was destroyed. Amazingly three items escaped without damage. The altar/communion table, the pulpit, and the music stand which had been donated by the Smiley family. For the next 18 months we used these three items in our worship services in Activities building. The choir sat on the stage, the communion table was in the center on the floor in front of the steps and the pulpit was to the left of the communion table, again on floor level.
When we moved into the new sanctuary in 1965 the pulpit, communion table, and music stand went into storage. Occasionally, these items were brought out for use in Sunday School classrooms … but in the recent past they have been stored away. They are beautiful works of craftsmanship, and it is special for me, and I assume for others of us who remember the “old” church to see them in use again.