Our History
For those who are interested in historical buildings and historical data, we're providing this document presented on April 25, 1994 by Sandra Peelman and Lavern Wagner based on their research of records from the Recorder's office at Switzerland County Courthouse and from church files.
The building that houses the present Church of Christ at Market and Liberty Streets was built around 1862 by local workers: Charles Webb and Thomas Gordon for the brick and stone; Fred Schlerp and Andrew Martin for the artificial floor and cement steps and walks; W.F. Goldenburg for the furnace and heating apparatus; Harry Weals for painting and Charles Hall for carpentering. The history states that an iron fence was to be added to the church grounds. It is not known what happened to the iron fence.
The first religious services were held in this building on Saturday & Sunday, January 12 and 13, 1863 with H.N. Brown, of Dublin, Indiana preaching.
In the beginning it was built to house the Universalist congregation and money was left by Mr. Joshua Smithson, a Universalist, in his will to that effect. The building was sold to the Christian Church in 1916.
A portrait of Mr. Smithson that used to hang in the church, is now hanging in the Switzerland County Historical Museum.
The society known as the Church of Christ/Christian Church was organized in 1842 by John M. Holton of Boone County, Kentucky. The first members were Thomas J. Wright, S.B. Miller and wife, and Mr. & Mrs. William Tilly. The first meetings were held at the courthouse and the Universalist church with prayer meetings and socials at private dwellings. In 1882 the old Baptist church building was bought, refitted and refurnished by John Wright and presented to the society. The officers at that time were Col. W.D. Ward, S.B. Miller and Sylvanus Lanham.
The society purchased this building in 1916 when Walter Mains was the pastor. They had voted to change the name to Church of Christ from Christian Church when Mr. Knotts was the minister, but ended up keeping it as Christian. The name was voted on again in the 1980’s and was changed to Church of Christ.
The style of architecture was new in this area, having been a duplicate of a Universalist Church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It has been said that the shingles represent the feathers of a dove, while the brick, originally red, represented the feet of a dove. The unusual roof represents the wings of a dove. It is so designed that when the sun is in a certain place in the sky and an airplane flies overhead, the plane’s shadow is in the shape of a cross. The high-pitched roof houses the Georgia Pine beams inside.
The main audience room and ceiling are finished in Georgia Pine as are the cross beams overhead. The windows are all fitted with Cathedral glass. The chandelier, donated by Mrs. Sallie Hall, has long been replaced and we now have hanging candle-shaped electric lights. High overhead a large ceiling fan and two smaller ceiling fans on the lower beams, help circulate the warm air in the winter. The high ceiling helps keep it cool in the summer. The original opera chairs have been replaced and there are now softly-padded, red-velvet-covered benches. These benches were covered by members of the congregation in the mid 1970’s under the direction of Robert and Lavern Wagner, owners of Wagner’s Upholstery, and members of this congregation. Carpeting was installed over the hardwood floor in the 1980’s by Bragg’s Carpet.
The front entry has two entrances, but only one is presently in use. Outside there are two sets of steps in the front that lead into the main entry and audience room. On the east side of the building is a stairway leading inside that reaches to the basement, and on the west side is a doorway and stairs leading directly to the basement. Directly behind the podium, where the choir used to be seated, is the baptistery that was added in the 1980’s. The work was done by members of the congregation. Two small dressing rooms were made on either end of the baptistery, for those being baptized and for the person doing the ceremony.
Directly in front of the stage stands the table that holds the elements of communion. On either side are chairs for the elders/deacons who preside over the serving. To the left of the table a large wooden cross is attached to the stage. The cross was made by brothers, Leon and Robert Peelman, members of the church, and installed to remind us, along with the communion, the reason for the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In front of the audience room is a stage with steps leading down to the main floor in front of either side. From the stage there is a doorway and steps to the left that leads to the basement. This was the area where, in the past, the choir assembled and the library was kept. On the right of the stage is a door, now unused, that leads to the study which is the minister’s office and library. Another door into the minister’s office is to the far right. To the far left from the main floor is a door that leads to the basement and a door that leads to the outdoors and accesses a walk/ramp that was built onto the east side of the church in 2001 by Bob Peelman and Leon Peelman.
Songs are projected onto a large screen from a computer for everyone to sing along. There is also an audio system for taped music and a piano. Members of the congregation occasionally have specials on Sunday morning. The organ was donated to a local church in 2011 to allow space for the large projector screen.
A more modern furnace was installed sometime in the mid 1980’s. In November 2003, as a result of the kind contribution from Viola Harlow of $10,000 to many of the area churches, a more efficient furnace was installed with central air conditioning. Drywall repair was done by Jeff Jividen in February or 2004 and the church interior was repainted in March 2004 by Jason Sullivan.
The basement houses a kitchen, where there are cabinets, counters and sink, a stove, refrigerator, and hot water heater. The refrigerator was replaced in January 2003.
The basement’s main central room houses four classrooms, two bathrooms, one on each side of the south wall, and a large social area where dinners were served for various church events. A furnace stands at one end of the large center room, close to the outside stairwell. The basement has windows that look out onto the lawn of the church.