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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 445 CHAPTER XVIII CHURCHES, SOCIETIES AND NEWSPAPERS BEGINNING OF LOCAL METHODISM-MOUNT UNION CHURCHES-UNION AVENUE M. E. CHURCH-FIRST M. E. CHURCH OF ALLIANCE-THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH- THE ALLIANCE CHRISTIAN CHURCH-ST. JOSEPH'S CATHOLIC CHURCH-FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH-ST. PAUL'S EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH-UNITED BRETHREN LANDMARK-WELSH CHURCHES-THE REFORMED CHURCH-OTHER RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS-SECRET AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES-EARLY ALLIANCE NEWSPAPERS-THE LOCAL BECOMES THE REVIEW. Alliance is well supplied with strong, firmly-established churches, its religious history covering nearly seventy-five years. The Methodists were first in the field and were followed, within the succeeding quarter of a century, by the Baptists, United Brethren, Catholics, Presbyterians, and Disciples. The Lutheran and Reformed churches were established at a later period, after the Civil war. BEGINNING OF LOCAL METHODISM The pioneer of them all and the mother of local religious activities, is the Union Avenue M. E. Church, which originated in the Methodist services conducted on the 28th of May, 1832, by Rev. Stephen Hubbard, in the old cemetery on South Union Avenue near the present site of the Stroup planing mill; from them dates the beginning of Methodism in Alliance. Reverend Hubbard continued to preach at Mount Union until the session of the Pittsburg conference, held at Meadville, Pennsylvania, July 17-25, 1833. At that time Revs. Alcinus Young and John E. Aiken were sent to Deerfield Circuit of which Mount Union was a part. They preached each alternate week in a log house which stood on the northwest corner of State Street and Union Avenue. That year a class or the congregation was organized with twenty-six members and the first class leader was Joseph Gaskill. George and William Teegarden were the first stewards. 446 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY UNION AVENUE M. E. CHURCH In 1840, when the Rev. Martin L. Weekly was pastor, the first church was built. In 1857 the second church edifice was erected at Mount Union at a cost of about $2,000. This building was replaced by the present substantial and commodious structure in 1893. The corner-stone was laid during commencement day of that year by Bishop Isaac W. Joyce, assisted by William McKinley and Dr. T. P. Marsh, president of Mount Union College and chairman of the building committee. The church cost nearly $30,000. The Union Avenue Methodist Church has largely depended upon the growth of Mount Union College, which was founded in 1846 ; it is generally recognized as the "college church." Rev. E. H. Roberts is pastor of the present substantial organization. FIRST M. E. CHURCH OF ALLIANCE The First M. E. Church of Alliance had its birth in a class organized in the little Town of Freedom during the year 1839. The first building erected by the society was the old frame structure which stood in the Freedom addition and afterward was purchased by the Friends Society for $1,000. The work on the building located on Main Street was commenced under the pastorate of Dr. A. B. Leonard, who was pastor in 1864. The lot on Main Street had been purchased for $250. On the coming of the Rev. A. B. Leonard as pastor, Alliance Circuit was discontinued and Alliance was made a Station. The building thus begun was finished under Rev. William Cox as pastor. The first sermon was delivered by Reverend Sweeney, of Columbus, Ohio. The growth of the church was so substantial during the following twenty years that in 1889 a new church was seen to be necessary. Inspiration for the new building was given under the pastorate of Dr. George B. Smith, who was pastor from 1889 to 1894. A lot was purchased on the northwest corner of Freedom Avenue and Broadway. During the two years' pastorate of Doctor Simons the work on the new building was begun and the basement was finished, in which the congregation worshiped until the church was completed. The original plan was to build a church to cost $25,000, but, with the growth of the society the plan expanded into a $75,000 edifice. The corner-stone was laid in 1895 by Dr. A. B. Leonard, who had been the pastor at the Main Street building, and the church was completed, in the fall of 1898, under the pastorate of Rev. T. W. Lane. The dedicatory services were conducted by Bishop Charles Fowler, and Rev. D. H. Moore, HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 447 D. D., readily induced those present or interested to subscribe $20,000 for the cancellation of the church debt. By the spring of 1903, when the subscriptions had been fully paid, a day of jubilee was held, at which Dr. Levi Gilbert was the speaker. At this service Silas J. Williams and Willis H. Ramsey presented to the congregation, free of debt and well insured, the handsome parsonage corner of Freedom Avenue and Broadway. The First Methodist, one of the largest churches in the city, is in charge of Rev. J. A. Ulman. THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH The First Baptist Church was founded by Matthias Hester, the founder both of Freedom and Alliance. He lived for two years at Mount Union, but his ambitions surmounted his tailor shop and small landed interests there, and so he laid out Freedom in 1838. In July, of the following year he headed a small band of Baptists, including Elias Ellett and Israel Belton and their families, and organized the Regular Baptist Church in the Town of Freedom. In 1842 Deacons M. Hester and David Gaskill, the latter of Salem, erected the first building of the society. Although the young society struggled to keep its head above water, it did not propose to do so in the dark ; for, according to a church record entered November 9, 1844, it was solemnly "Resolved, that each member endeavor to help find candles." On October 16, 1852, a small gathering of Baptists at Mount Union united with the church in Freedom to be called "The Freedom and Mount Union Church,'' the preaching to be divided between the two places. On January 7, 1854, the name was changed to "Alliance Church" and on March 11, 1854, the full name was adopted, "The Regular Baptist Church of Alliance." In the spring of 1855 a new brick building was commenced on what is now N Arch Avenue. The walls were completed when a strong wind partially destroyed them. They were rebuilt, the building roofed in, and the framework for a steeple put up and inclosed, when the hurricane of April 12, 1856, destroyed the building completely. Some entries in the church record at this time are suggestively pathetic. April 19, "Resolved Dr. Blackburn superintend fixing the old meeting house." "Moved and seconded that we build a meeting house on the old foundation, which was lost." "Resolved that we appoint a committee of five as follows : Bros. E. Ellett, Belton, Worthman, Queen and M. Hester to select a location for the meeting house, etc." May 10. "Resolved that the male members meet on Tuesday morn- 448 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY ing next at 7 o'clock to gather up the fragments of the meeting house and pile them up." Just at this time trials within the church threatened even greater wreckage than marked the path of the "great wind." Through an unhappy disagreement, Matthias Hester, the father of the church, its first deacon and chief supporter, ceased being a member. However, the remaining members, under the leadership of Elder William Leet, secured the lot where the church now stands, and commenced its erection in the summer of 1856. In consequence of the rupture of Mr. Hester, the church ceased from using the old building which was his property, and held its services in the cabinet shop of Phillip Sharer until they were able to meet in the basement of the new building, in July, 1857. The house was dedicated September 20th, of the same year. On September 19th, the first ordination service was held by the church to set apart Luther R. Jaynes to the work of the Gospel Ministry. Although the Baptists have continued their organization they received a set-back from which they did not recover for some years when Mr. Hester left the society to join the Disciples, and after 1857 devoted himself to the extension of that church. THE ALLIANCE CHRISTIAN CHURCH The Christian Church, as a regular organization dates from 1856 although a few earnest members had been holding services, whenever and wherever they could, since 1847. Levi Borton, M. D. Stallcup and their families came together as Disciples in the Village of Mount Union, and brought several preachers of their faith to proselyte in the community. At first the Baptists, under Mr. Hester's leadership, allowed them the use of their meeting house, but when the Christian Society had grown to eight members, and talked of organizing, they were allowed to gather in the old seminary. Finally an organization was effected, with Asa Silvers and Bryan Patterson as elders and Edwin Vaughn and Edward Pettit as deacons, and the membership ran up to twenty. Then Harman Reyes held a protracted meeting and added sixteen to the church. In 1857 several meetings were held in the Baptist Church, when forty more joined the Christian Church, among whom were Matthias Hester and his family. The story of Mr. Hester's conversion is thus told : "In 1857 Mr. Hester went to Minerva on business, and while there a friend invited him to hear Elder Dibble, a Christian minister, who was holding a series of meetings. At the close of the service Elder Dibble shook hands with Mr. Hester and asked him if he remembered a bad boy in HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 449 Salem, adding was that boy.' " An arrangement was made that when Elder Dibble came through Alliance soon after the Minerva meeting he should stop and preach. Mr. Hester was at that time a member of the Baptist Church. Some difficulties had arisen in the church and many of its members had gone out and worshiped elsewhere. Mr. Hester owned the church building, which he kindly tendered to Mr. Dibble. Not only that, but Mr. Hester also advertised the meeting and gathered an audience. The meeting developed in interest and quite a number were immersed. At the close of a three weeks' meeting a church was constituted. Mr. Hester and his family accepted the New Testament basis and decided to be Christians only. The new church met in Mr. Teeter's building and continued to grow. Later the church was ministered to by Elder Spark. A new house was erected on North Walnut Street, in which the congregation worshiped for several years. It was decided to move from that location. Mrs. Sarah Teeters donated a lot at the corner of Park Avenue and Main Street, to which the church building was moved. During these years Elders Pinkerton, A. R. Benton, Isaac Emett, J. Harrison Jones, B. A. Hinsdale, J. F. Sloan, A. S. Hayden and William Baxter preached for the church varying periods of time. More recent pastors were George Musson, A. B. Russell, L. I. Mercer and A. M. Chamberlin. Under the ministry of A. M. Chamberlin the beautiful structure which now stands on the corner of Park and Main was erected. In 1902 A. B. Moore, of St. Louis, became pastor, and during his four years' pastorate 200 were added to the church membership. The debt was also lifted from the society. Since then Rev. Fred A. Nichols, Rev. C. B. Reynolds and others have held pastorates, and added to its strength and influence. ST. JOSEPH'S CATHOLIC CHURCH Catholic services were first held in Alliance as early as 1848, although the congregation of the present St. Joseph's Catholic Church was not fairly formed until five or six years afterward, when the building of the railroads brought to Alliance a number of Irish, French and German laborers who were members of that faith. The first resident pastor, Rev. F. Moitrier, was not appointed until 1866. During the succeeding decade several priests were in charge of. St. Joseph's. Rev. James O'Leary served from 1877 to 1886, and he has placed on record a brief history of the church in the following words : "I find, for the first time, mention made of a Catholic priest's holding services at Alliance in 1848. 450 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY A Rev. Father Pendergast attended Leetonia, East Liverpool and as far west as Louisville, until 1853, when he went West. He held divine services occasionally in some of the shanties at Alliance, then occupied by some poor Catholic families. In 1859 Father Lindesmith, then stationed at Canton, where there was only one small church, rented Lamborn Hall and changed its name to Catholic Hall. In 1861 Rev. Edward Hannen bought the first church property owned by the Catholics (two lots) from L. Teeters for $125. According to the tradition, this amount was paid for one lot and Mr. Teeters donated the other. Rev. Hannen collected from both Protestants and Catholics, and built the old frame church in 1862. "Rev. P. H. Brown, of Hudson, attended from 1862 to 1864, when Rev. L. Hoffer, of Louisville, supplied his place until 1865. Rev. Moitrier was the first resident pastor. He came in 1865 and left in 1867. After Moitrier came Father E. W. J. Lindesmith, who attended Alliance and Leetonia together until 1872, when he resigned Alliance but retained the other charge. During his pastorate a brick house on Market street was purchased for a parsonage, and between 'four and five acres were bought south of town for a cemetery. Other improvements in church property were made, amounting to about $8,000. Nearly all had been paid for, when Rev. J. Monahan came and remained until 1875. This pastor contemplated building a new church and for that purpose bought three more lots for $1,800. On one of these the foundations for a new church were laid and the walls built almost to grade. About this time the mill shut down, many of the congregation which then numbered about 150 families, left, and the project was abandoned. When Father J. L. Ahearn came in 1875 there was a debt of $700. In 1877 Rev. James O'Leary was appointed. Father O'Leary has been succeeded in the pastorate by Fathers J. McMahon, J. J. Farrell, F. J. Hopp, A. P. Banks and others, and St. Joseph's is one of the leading churches in Alliance." The first Catholic Church in Alliance was situated on the corner of Linden and Market, the present site of the First Presbyterian Church. In 1873 part of the present property facing on Broadway and Linden was purchased by Reverend Monahan and the erection of the present church edifice begun. The panic of 1873, however, delayed its completion. During the pastorate of Father O'Leary the church was completed at an expense of about $19,000. It was dedicated by Bishop Gilmour on Sunday, October 30, 1881. In 1880 the old property on Market and Linden streets was sold, three new lots on Linden and High streets purchased and the old church building removed to the new property and converted into a temporary parochial school. This purchase of HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 451 lots made the entire church property a plat of land 150 by 280 located in the most desirable part of the city. In 1900 an abandoned academy located on the southwest corner of Linden and High streets was purchased by Father Farrell and fitted up, partly as a parochial school and partly as a pastoral residence. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH The First Presbyterian Church of Alliance was organized February 2, 1854, by a committee composed of Rev. Robert Dickson, Rev. Joseph S. Grimes and Elder James Beer, of Middle Sandy, now Homeworth, the organization occurring in the Baptist Church in Freedom. There were nine members in the original charter list.: Mrs. Hugh Lee, Miss Rachel Lee, Mrs. Elizabeth Anderson, and Mrs. Mary Hawkins, on examination and Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Elder, Mrs. Margaret Transue and Mr. Solomon Shaffer on certificate. The first church building was erected on East Prospect Street in 1858, on the site now occupied by the skating rink. Increased membership and congregations made it necessary to build another church in 1893, which was occupied for services in 1904. With the changes in every other interest in the city, this church was a much more commodious and pretentious edifice and was occupied until it became necessary to again enlarge the capacity. To the end that the congregation should have a place of worship in accord with the spirit of the congregation and of the progressive times, at a congregational meeting held January 11, 1901, it was decided that a new and strictly up-to-date church should be built. Electing as building committee Messrs. J. H. Sharer, A. B. Love, J. W. Hull, John Bracher, Rev. R. A. Carnahan (pastor), and Col. W. H. Morgan, the congregation was imbued with the spirit of the occasion and at once began planning for the rapid execution of their plans. For the committee Mr. Sharer was chosen as chairman, Reverend Carnahan, secretary, and W. W. Gilson as treasurer. The nucleus of the building fund was started when on the same evening A. B. Love placed on the table five $20 gold pieces. The first pledge was given by the Ladies Aid, which, by its president, Mrs. Mary J. Sourbeck, obligated the society for $1,000, and thus Was begun the work of financing the new building proposition. Plans and specifications were submitted to the congregation March 11 and were accepted June 2, 1902; contract for the building was let November 5, 1902, and the cornerstone was laid June 3, 1903. Rev. Andrew B. Meldrum, of Cleveland, delivered the sermon on this occasion. The church was dedicated December 11, 1904, just thirty-five months 452 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY after the first congregational meeting to consider the proposition. November 6, 1910, the church debt was cleared and the mortgage burned, the committee appointed to clean up the bonded debt was composed of the following members of the church : Messrs. A. B. Love, H. J. Wilhelm, J. B. Mowry, C. E. Mark, Emil Tanner, Herbert Pritchard and J. A. Crumrine. The loss of the records, upon the death of Rev. R. A. Carnahan, who had served the congregation faithfully and was the leading spirit in the move so successfully planned and finished for the new church make it impossible to give a list of the ministers who had served the church. The present pastor is Rev. Frank J. Bryson, an able minister, who was called and accepted the position of pastor in September, 1914. The present church membership numbers 750. ST. PAUL'S EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH The St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in 1882 and has quite a following. Its neat home is at Seneca and Columbia streets. Among the pastors who have served the congregation may be mentioned Reverends Wiles, A. C. Miller, Stoudenmeyer, J. W. Byers, S. P. Keifer, Abram Miller, J. H. Neuhauser, Thomas Reisch and W. W. Kennerly. UNITED BRETHREN LANDMARK The United Brethren Church is not strong, but its history is rather interesting. As early as 1847 a few members of the faith got together and built a little house of worship on the high ground just north of the Mahoning River near the present site of the waterworks plant. That church building has long since disappeared, but the society persevered and in 1855 erected a small brick edifice on what is now North Freedom Avenue near Walnut. That, too, has become one of the old and interesting landmarks of the city. WELSH CHURCHES The Welsh, always religiously-inclined, organized two churches in 1867—the First Congregational (formerly the Welsh Congregational) and the Calvanistic M. E. The membership was chiefly drawn from the iron workers of the rolling mills. HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 453 THE REFORMED CHURCH The Reformed Church is represented by two organizations. The mother body was Christ Reformed Church, organized in 1870, with a house of worship on Columbia Street, and Immanuel Reformed, an offshoot of the former. The Immanuel congregation separated from Christ Reformed Church in 1899 because of its belief that all services should be conducted in English ; the older body clings to its original plan of conducting morning services in German and those of the evening, in English. OTHER RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS The Independent Church, on Broadway east of Park Avenue, represents a secession from the Christian Church of many years standing, while the First Friends Church, in the same neighborhood, was dedicated in 1901 and has since pursued the even tenor of its way. The Christian Scientists have also an organization with pleasant reading rooms. The Salvation Army, which commenced its work in the early '80s in old College Hall on Broadway, has also done faithful work along its well-known lines. SECRET AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES The secret and benevolent orders find substantial support at Alliance, the Odd Fellows, Masons, Knights of Pythias, Elks, Moose, Knights of Columbus, Knights of Maccabees and Eagles being well represented and, as is customary in a railroad and industrial center, labor unions and organizations are numerous. The I. 0. 0. F. dates back to 1855, its Temple on Main Street being dedicated in April, 1909. The local bodies of the order are as follows : Alliance Lodge No. 266, instituted April 10, 1855 ; Hesperian Lodge No. 582, instituted July 8, 1874 ; Alliance Encampment No. 104, instituted August 8, 1867, and reorganized July 25, 1889 ; Alliance Rebekah Lodge No. 500, chartered July 18, 1899. To be more specific, the following are some of the representative organizations at Alliance, the arrangement being alphabetical : Alliance Lodge No. 362, Loyal Order of Moose. Alliance Hive No. 39, Ladies of the Modern Maccabees. Alliance Chapter No. 83, Royal Arch Masons. Alliance Tent No. 12, Knights of Maccabees. Alliance Lodge No. 266, T. 0. F. Vol. II-5 454 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY Alliance Lodge No. 467, B. P. O. E. Blaine Tent No. 220, Knights of Maccabees. Council No. 558, Knights of Columbus. Lone Crag Aerie No. 224, Fraternal Order of Eagles. Lone Rock Lodge No. 23, Knights of Pythias. Mecca Chapter No. 296, Order of the Eastern Star. Yellow Cross Company No. 85, Uniformed Ranks, Knights of Pythias. The patriotic organizations include the following: Crubaugh Camp No. 19, United Spanish War Veterans ; John C. Fremont Post No. 729, G. A. R.; Mrs. John A. Logan Tent, Daughters of Veterans, and McClellan Camp No. 91, Sons of Veterans. EARLY ALLIANCE NEWSPAPERS On Thursday, June 8, 1854, the first newspaper was published in Lexington Township, at Alliance. The editor was the late Dr. L. L. Lamborn, one of the city's most honored characters. The paper was printed on the press of the Salem Republican. A few weeks after this venture L. W. Hall brought a printing press to Alliance, and a paper called the Alliance Ledger was started. The Ledger was republican in politics, and, after one year's existence, A. H. Lewis bought the outfit, installed James Estell as editor, changed the name of the paper to the Alliance Times and the politics to democratic. In 1856 S. G. McKee came to Alliance from Carrollton, purchased the Times and became its editor and manager until 1861, after which the Times was- owned successively by Barlow & Morgan, Webb & Co. and Elmslie & Co. In 1864 the Times was removed to Canton, and the Alliance Local succeeded it at Alliance. This paper was republican in politics. Soon after this the Monitor made its appearance as an independent sheet, under the management of Rev. and Mrs. W. K. Brown. The True Press made its initial bow as a neutral paper at this period also, and Alliance was blessed with three weekly newspapers. "The Local cut, the Monitor tore, the True Press soothed. The Local shot at the heart, the Monitor at the whole body and the True Press at neither." It was at this period that Joe Gillespie first came to the front as a versatile writer and became a part of Alliance. At this time, in the field of journalism, Alliance was the peer of any interior town in Ohio. "These presses were the heralds of the future of the city ; for them to languish was for the city to grow weary ; for merchants and manufacturers to give printing to out-of-town solicitors was suicide ; it would be a stone to throw at the goose that laid the golden egg; it might not have killed, but it would seriously wound." HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 455 In 1864 the Christian Standard was published in Alliance in the interest of the Christian Church, and was edited by the Rev. Isaac Evrett. In the same year the Family and School Instructor was published as a monthly and was the product of the faculty and students of Mount Union College. Then came the Literary Advance, following the footsteps of the former and emanating from the same source. Both were of a literary character and were well edited. After S. G. McKee sold his interest in the Local to J. W. Gillespie he purchased the first cylinder press ever brought to Alliance of a modern type and began the publication of the Alliance Telegraph, a weekly paper which entered upon a bright and prosperous career. One morning, without warning, the citizens were astonished to learn that Mr. Gillespie had purchased the Telegraph, and the Local and Telegraph were consolidated. It was now these combined papers against the Monitor. The Monitor was established in 1864; the Local, the same year, and the True Press, about the same time. THE LOCAL BECOMES THE REVIEW It was in May, 1871, that J. W. Gillespie purchased a half interest in the Local, a "patent outside," struggling for existence, with a subscription list not to exceed 300, and, in company with S. G. McKee, undertook to conduct a neutral paper. In November, 1871, Mr. Gillespie purchased the McKee interest in the Local and became the sole owner of the good will and office and paraphernalia. The "patent outside" gave way to home-set matter. There was a sudden and great change in the Local. The paper soon outgrew its name. It became popular and was no longer neutral. It was republican. The name, Local, was dropped and that of Alliance Review substituted. In 1871 Joseph W. Gillespie, part owner of the Local, purchased the interest of S. G. McKee, his partner, and became sole owner of the paper. The Local was a neutral newspaper. Under the new name Review, it was changed to a republican paper and has ever since been an exponent of the doctrines and principles of this party. Under the management of Mr. Gillespie, the Review enjoyed a prosperous life until 1888. In March of this year the Review and the Standard, then owned and published by John G. Garrison, were purchased and consolidated. This purchase was made by a stock company, incorporated on March 3, 1888. by J. W. Gillespie, H. W. Brush, F. N. Bryan, E. E. Scranton and D. D. Waugh. D. D. Waugh was the first president of the company. The Daily Review (Evening) was first issued September 17, 1888. At the death of Reverend Waugh, David Fording became president. In 1895 456 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY W. H. Ramsey was elected president. In 1902 S. J. Williams became the president of the Review Publishing Company and has served in that capacity ever since. From March, 1888, until December 1, 1894, H. W. Brush was the manager of the company, but at the date named F. A. Hoiles, having purchased a portion of Mr. Brush's stock, was elected manager of the paper, a position which he still holds. The absorption of the Leader— a semi-weekly and daily democratic paper, whose editions were established in 1875 and 1892, respectively-is of comparatively recent date and gives the local field to the Review Publishing Company. |