Side A: Rev. George Messenger and his congregation built the first Universalist Church on this site. It was dedicated during a state convention of Universalists in Woodstock in June 1844. In 1893, Rev. John A. Carpenter was instrumental in erecting a new building — the one before you. It was dedicated Easter Sunday, April 14, 1895. The church’s front window memorializes the men of the 66th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, recruited from Champaign County during the Civil War. Woodstock in Rush Township contributed more of its sons to the Union cause per capita than any other community in the county.