History of Our Church
The Early History
The Mulberry United Methodist Church was built in 1874 after much discussion of where a church should be built. There were already churches in Dayton and Hamilton. As a result of a revival held in 1873 in Dayton, 21 members gathered and held a meetin g where not much happened. They had first decided to build the church in Hamilton, which is now only a cross road on State Road 38. Next, a group from Mulberry met in Dr. I.S. Earhart's home. Those attending were: David Combs, Moses R. Allen, J. Chris Sny der, S.M. Bailer, Mrs. Page, George Earhart Sr., S.S. Earhart, James R. Elliott and others. This was a very productive meeting. Dr. Earhart and J.C. Snyder were appointed as the building committee and Dr. Earhart drew up the plans for the new church. Cons truction began in June 1874 and in September of that year the building was complete at a total cost of $2,600.
Architecture of the Church
The description of the 1901 Church:
The general style of the church is Gothic. The church faces the east and north. The width of the church, including the Audience Room and Chapel is 73 feet. The Chapel is 34 feet x 56 feet and can be used for Sunday school. At the east end there are t hree classrooms separated by Wilson Rollers. At the west end is the parlor separated by folding doors. Three large Wilson doors separate the Audience Room from the Chapel. A full lighted basement and a kitchen is planned for later. The windows in the Audi ence Room are of the finest opalescent glass finished by W.T. Lockwood of Lafayette. The largest window is the north gable and there is also a large circular window in the east. The tower is 52 feet high.
The Present:
The Church sanctuary is 44 feet x 44 feet, also known as the Audience Room. What once was the Chapel are now 6 classrooms and bathrooms. The Wilson Rollers still separate the classroom from the sanctuary. The vestibule is 16 feet x 16 feet. What once was the parlor are now the Pastor's Study, Church office and classroom space.
Recent upgrades included adding ranks to the organ, repainting the sanctuary, new stained glass behind the cross at the altar, (in memory of Jim and Maxine Bailey), new carpet, a wheelchair ramp and chair lift.
Historical Dates & Activities
· 1876-1877
The first notable increase in the membership occurred with Reverend Town.
· 1885
There was a great revival with Reverend Tindall, 216 members were added! He said, "Long live and greatly flourish the Mulberry Charge."
· 1900-1903
Under Reverend Maxwell's leadership a new brick church was built. This is the building you are in today. At a cost of $11,000 the church had an auditorium, four classrooms, a Sunday school room, parlor and basement. It was dedicated with money raise d by the Ladies Industrial Society and Sunday School. Levi Herr, Coralee (Bailey) Judge's great grandfather, helped secure the bond for this building.
· 1913
The total membership was 291 with contributions of $2,583.
· 1939-1940
During this time there was a merger of the Methodist Episcapal, Methodist Protestant and Methodist Church South - New name: The Methodist Church. Also in 1940, the old Epworth League became Methodist Youth Fellowship - MYF and Charles and Emerson App donated the pipe organ. The pipes and console came from an old movie theater.
· 1953-1956
The first church remodeling.
· 1959
Old parsonage sold for $6,000 dollars and the present one bought for total of $13,000 dollars.
· 1968
In this year we became the United Methodist Church after the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren merged.
· 1971
Second Remodeling. Reverend Powell and Ora Hawkins redid the woodworking in the church, new altar, altar railings, choir rail, and new Pulpits were made.
· 1978
Pipe organ was rebuilt and the third remodeling was done through the legacy from Lois Gable Carouthers. The bathrooms and new chapel were added.
· 1991
A major rebuild of the organ and added ranks was done with much help from Dick Nagle and the whole congregation.
· 1995
Tim Burchill and Tom Montgomery both assisted with establishing a Pre-school named Wee Blessing
· 1997 -1998
Tom and Sue Montgomery started our Kids Club for ages K - 6th grade. We soon expanded to a Junior Youth for 4th - 6th graders.
· 1999
Extensive repairs were made to the Parsonage.
· 2000
Pastor Tom Hoehner and Jerry Fultz assisted with the purchase of a new Carillon.
· 2001
In May, The Old Farmers Bank building was purchased and Abba's Place was established. With much dedication and hard work it opened in September with a game room and a dining area called Burgin Street Café. We now offer Kids Club to grades K - 3 at t he church and 4 - 6th at Abba's Place and Youth for 7th - 8th grade and 9th -12th grade. Coralee Judge is the chairman of our building fund committee, just like her great grand father.
Mulberry Methodist Pastors
According to John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, "A preacher should not stay at any one place for more than two years." Hence the Mulberry Untied Methodist Church has had 50 Pastors in the past 129 years.
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1874-75 Jessie Hill 1875 -76 W.W. Barnard 1876- 77 Salem B. Town Aaron Wood 1878 -79 Salem B. Town 1879 -81 C.E. Lewis 1882-82 Wesley Prettyman 1883-83 William Graham 1884-86 P.K. Tindall 1886-88 Nathan Pavey 1889-89 W. .S. Bickles 1890-90 Nathan Tinkham 1891-95 John C. Martin 1896-99 T.F. Drake 1900 -02 John A. Maxwell 1903-05 John C. Kemp 1906-06 Sam P. Colvin 1907-09 H.C. Riley 1910-12 J. Milton Williams 1913-16 F. Grant Howard 1916-18 O.P. Paxton 1919- 23 Earl Moore 1924-25 A.L. Brandenburg 1926-27 Ernest V. Claypool |
1928-29 C.Vernon Bigler 1930-34 C. Raymond Earle 1935-38 Ernest F. Prevo 1939- 41 Carl C. Bosse 1942-44 P. J. Hamilton 1945-46 Ralph Gwinn 1947-48 J. Edward Boase 1949-49 Israel Hatton William Warriner 1950-52 Clair Siple 1953-56 Paul Reisen 1957-59 Jack Fitzgerald 1959-63 Steve Burris 1963-73 E. Vaughn Powell 1973-76 William Brett 1976-79 Robert Dexter 1979-83 Marvin Cook 1983-88 Kent Biller 1988-89 Robert Church 1990-93 James A. Davison 1993-95 Tim Burchill 1995- 2000 Tom Montgomery 2000 - 2006 Tom Hoehner 2006 - 2007 Linda Dolby 2007 - present David Hummel |