- Title, side A
- First McConnelsville Christmas Tree
- Text, side A
- This former Universalist Church, which held a strong conviction for education and the pursuit of knowledge, was built in 1852 at a cost of $3,500. In 1865, its members decorated the first Christmas tree to be placed in a church in McConnelsville. Two years later they installed a pipe organ at a cost of $1,000, the first such organ in the community. The first Sunday School Library was also added, allowing members to borrow books and return them a week later. A number of prominent local families attended the church, including the Manly, Whitiker, Beckett, Arrick, and Murray families from the 1850s through the early twentieth century. Richard Bilbe, a former slave who had been freed, served as an early trustee of the church and attended with his family. The church was restored and reopened as a non-denominational church in 1997.
- Sponsors
- Finley Fire Equipment Company and The Ohio Historical Society
- Address
- 210 N. Kennebec Avenue
McConnelsville, OH 43756 - Location
- Church of Gospel Ministry,
- Coordinates
- Latitude: 39.6510250, Longitude: -81.8532220.
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