MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Camp meetings were a popular feature of pioneer life, for they brought people together and raised the moral tone of the time. As early as 1820, such meetings were held near Lewisburg at the Henry Kumler, Jr. and Zeller residences. After the coming of the railroad, excursions were run to Lewisburg from considerable distances, bringing people to the village for prayer meetings and revivals.

A revival was held in the fall of 1839 by United Brethren itinerant pastors from Germantown, Ohio. It resulted in the organization of a United Brethren Church in 1840 by Lewisburg native Henry Kumler, Jr., who later became a bishop in the denomination.

Both the United Brethren and the Methodist groups met in a wagon shop on the east side of what is now Commerce Street, between Twin and North Water Streets.

When a blacksmith who worked at the wagon shop offered one hundred dollars to the first group to build a church, there was a rush to build and the United Brethren won the money. Their first church, completed in 1840, was at the northeast corner of Floyd and Water Streets. The building resembled the architectural design of later one-room brick schoolhouses and had two entrances—one for men and one for women. The interior walls were whitewashed and the only lighting was from candles.

The present lot at Commerce and Harrison Streets was purchased in 1852 and, in 1855, n new two-story church with belfry was dedicated. There was one entrance but two stairways which led up to the sanctuary where there was separate seating for men and women. The pastor lived in part of the first floor and a large meeting room was on the second floor.

Redecoration in 1877 reflected a change in the church congregation. Walls were frescoed, floors were carpeted, an organ was installed and a choir loft was built. This indicated a great change in services for, only ten years earlier, Benjamin R. Hanby had been dismissed as pastor because the congregation did not want music in church services. Also, there was no longer separate seating for men and women.

In 1894, the building was completely remodeled to create a lofty, single-story structure having large Gothic windows with art glass figures and designs. A sloping floor and tall steeple were added. Relatives of the three persons to whom the windows were dedicated were active in the 1991 congregation.

Electricity had come to Lewisburg in 1913 and electric lights replaced the ornate kerosene chandelier and lamps. Then in 1914, more space was needed and members hand-dug the basement, providing space for a pipeless furnace, a kitchen and an open room for social gatherings.

For several years a second exit from the sanctuary had been needed as well as more classroom space for the growing Sunday School. In 1951, another building project began. A two-story addition was built at the rear of the building, providing two exits, a chancel in the sanctuary, classrooms, church office, a large kitchen, restrooms, and an enlarged, paneled dining room/fellowship hall. An electric organ was placed in the sanctuary and complete redecoration and refurnishing was finished in time to celebrate the 100th year in the present building.

Many projects were carried out to provide funds for the church’s financial obligation. For several years, the men of the church grew fifty acres of corn and the church operated a food concession at the Preble County Fair until the debt was paid.

The only subsequent exterior changes were removal of the steeple in 1932 and building a ramp to a side entrance in 1989.

Sons and daughters of this church have gone on to serve their Lord in many ways. Most notably, perhaps, was Elma Bittle who, after attending Otterbein College, served in the Africa Mission Field at Sierra Leone. She became ill with malaria, died and was buried there.

Mary Bierly served at the Red Bird Mission in Kentucky and Walter Roberts served as missionary in the Philippines. He returned to become president of Bonebrake Seminary (United Theological Seminary) in Dayton, Ohio. More recently, Bill Schilling answered the call in 1985 and served as a United Methodist minister in the West Ohio Conference at a church in Portsmouth, Ohio.

During the first seventy-five years, forth-two preachers—many of them circuit riders—served the church but during the years from 1916 to 1991, there were only nineteen difference pastors. Some of these were well-known in the United Brethren Church. They were Henry and Daniel Kumler, George and Daniel Bonebrake and Benjamin Hanby.

Memorial United Methodist Church, which celebrated its sesquicentennial year in 1990, was then part of the Dayton North District of the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church. It had a full-time pastor for the first time since the merger of the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist churches in 1968. The arrangement then was unique in that the Memorial and Calvary churches, both located in Lewisburg, were served by a husband-wife pastoral team, Rachel and Ronald Gonia.