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In 1845, the Disciples of Christ built the first of three churches to occupy this site. They built a second, larger structure, to replace the original in 1858. On August 6th, 1860, 29 year-old circuit minister Brother James A. Garfield, the future 20th President of the United States, was paid $250.00 to speak here every other Sunday for one year. An arsonist destroyed both the second church and the Solon Village Hall. Erected in 1899, this building replaced the second church and was occupied by the Disciples of Christ until 1920, when it merged with two local churches to establish the Federated Church of Solon. In 1951, the Pioneer Memorial Church split from the Federated Church to move into the abandoned Disciples Church, which they renovated. The City of Solon purchased the building in 1968, and it has since been the home of The Solon Historical Society.
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This “little gem of a stone church,” built and dedicated in 1893, is constructed of locally quarried, rusticated Berea sandstone blocks. A Celtic cross at the top of the west wall represented the areas of Great Britain from which many original parish members immigrated to this area of Ohio. The chapel is named in honor of John Ogilvy. He was not a member of St. Thomas Church, but he did leave a bequest which the parish used to erect the chapel. It was constructed at a cost of $4,174.70.
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The first Blendon Presbyterian Church was located at the intersection of Dempsey and Hempstead Roads on what is part of Blendon Central Cemetery. Timothy Lee (1785-1862) donated land at the northeast corner for a church and cemetery. The church was dedicated on December 6, 1829, but it burned that same night under suspicious circumstances. Following the fire, the congregation’s members built another edifice on “Phelps Acre,” across Hempstead Road and so named for benefactor Edward Phelps. Sr. (1759-1840). The congregation held services there from 1830 to 1865. It was believed that the church was finally abandoned and dismantled piecemeal after the Central College Presbyterian Church was finished in 1870.
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On November 19, 1968, the Columbus Metropolitan Library dedicated the first public library in the nation named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, the East Side Community Council requested that the new library being planned for the King-Lincoln Bronzeville community bear his name. The King family had both family and civic ties to Columbus and were honored by the tribute. More than 1,000 people gathered outside 1600 E. Long Street to hear Martin Luther King Sr. deliver the November dedication speech. Continuing the King family tradition, Martin Luther King III cut the ribbon to open a new branch building at 1487 E. Long Street on October 18, 2018. The Martin Luther King Branch was the first Columbus public library to bear an individual’s name.
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Elizabeth Tyron Sadler started the Methodist Episcopal Church in North Dover Township in June 1827, on land owned by her father-in-law Christopher Sadler. Charter members were the Rev. Eliphalet and Mrs. Margaret Johnson and their daughter Rebecca, along with niece Catherine Porter Foote. Elizabeth and William Sadler donated the land and much of the material needed to build a new wood-frame church here in 1841. The still-growing congregation built a brick church in 1908 and added a new sanctuary in 1955. Taking the name Bay United Methodist Church in 1968, the church has remained a center of community life and faith continuously since 1827. Family names associated with the church’s early decades include Aldrich, Cahoon, Drake, Foote, Osborn, Powell, Sadler, Tuttle, and Wolf.
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Bethel A.M.E. Church was the first African American church in Worthington. Black residents joined Worthington’s established churches as early as 1847 or worshipped together in their homes. Peter Banks with D.H. Taborn, Charles Kiner, J.T. Horton, and James Birkhead organized the A.M.E. congregation in 1896. Rapid growth moved their meetings to the Worthington Town Hall by 1897. A lot was purchased from Millie Alston on September 24, 1897, and a house relocated to serve as Bethel Chapel. Local carpenter Chester Hard constructed a new building that was dedicated as St. John A.M.E. in 1914. The church has served as the religious and social hub of Worthington’s Black community for more than a century. While St. John A.M.E. Church retains their original location, worship services moved to 7700 Crosswoods Drive in 2004.
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The Ohio Baptist General Association (OBGA) acquired 48 Parkwood Avenue in 1954 and used the former residence as its headquarters until 1996. Formed in 1896, the Association includes more than forty African American churches, many formed prior to the Civil War. Baptist general associations nationwide became an important voice during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement as they addressed the wrongs of racial violence and discrimination in business, housing, and education. The OGBA fought for the ideals of justice and freedom with its strongly-held Baptist beliefs. “America with her wealth as a great nation,“ OGBA President Wilber A. Page declared in 1957, “is well able to face integration and give a democracy to all her citizens.” The former Association Headquarters was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on December 3, 2020.
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Described as “one of the region’s great examples of Greek Revival church architecture,” the building was erected in 1853. Holsey Gates, founder of Gates Mills in 1826, financed most of the construction of the church, which served Methodist Episcopal congregants until 1926. With the decline in that denomination’s attendance, an Episcopal mission acquired the building in 1927 and renamed it St. Christopher’s by the River. Church trustee and eminent Cleveland architect Frank Walker made historically sensitive renovations to the building soon after. More were made in 1953-1954, 1965, and 1984. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.