Methodist church in St. Joseph keeps history alive

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- Inside a cabinet at Ashland United Methodist Church stand dozens of scrapbooks, the years written on the spines in precise handwriting. Inside the books are documents from decades of traditions, people and changes at the church, an important glimpse into a history that dates back to the 1840s.

"To me, I feel like, you basically need to know about your past to understand your present and move into the future," said Susan Schmidt Smith, church historian. "A lot of the people that are here are new members, and we are thrilled to have them, but do they understand what it took to get here?"

Getting to Ashland United Methodist Church's 60th anniversary, celebrated this year, took a merger of two historic St. Joseph churches, many fundraisers, a few remodels and the purposeful preservation of centuries of history, the St. Joseph News-Press reported.

In the 1940s, Trinity Methodist Church, Third and Roubidoux streets, and Hundley Church, 22nd and Colhoun streets, both were struggling to stay open. Trinity Methodist Church, founded in 1846, was thought to be the oldest organized German Methodist church in the area.

"I remember old Trinity very much," Smith said. " ... We always had our children's program on Christmas Eve, and the big deal was Santa would come through the door and he'd have a big sack of candy. We had our Christmas program ... and then Santa would come and we'd all go home for Christmas Eve."

Under the leadership of the Rev. Louis Schowengerdt, the two congregations decided to merge in 1952 and build a new sanctuary on Ashland Avenue to continue as one church.

"We merged way ahead of [our] time. The hard part was, even though Hundley was on 22nd and Colhoun, Trinity was way downtown, way down. It was part of the old town of St. Joseph," said Smith, a retired teacher. "To think that they were willing to come out here. There wasn't anything out here."

The cornerstone of the building was set Sept. 27, 1953, and the building was finished that spring. At the time, two adjacent houses served as the parsonage and Sunday school building. The first worship service was held at Ashland on March 7, 1954.

Smith remembers the work that went into creating a new, merged Ashland United Methodist Church.

"When we first came out here and we went into debt, we had spaghetti dinners. We had fish dinners. We had fundraisers constantly. It didn't take us very long to pay off our debt," Smith said. "They were dedicated people."

Nine years later, with debts paid off, the church tore down the nearby houses and added on educational facilities for Sunday school and other programs. Additional renovations and expansions in 1985, 1988 and 2003 added a bell tower and remodeled the sanctuary and church basement.

"It's been through a lot of changes," Smith said.

In 1964, well-known community artist and Ashland church member Al Kost began what Ashland now considers its signature artwork -- an almost 95-square-foot mosaic of the Last Supper that hangs off the church's entry parlor.

According to church records, the mosaic was completed in 18 months and 10 days with the help of Louie Hees, Fred Laurent, the Singles Club of St. Joseph and the Wesleyan Sunday school class. The mosaic is made up of 120,000 pieces of Venetian glass tiles in 64 colors, and eight pounds of Elmer's glue.

The mosaic was brought into the church in one piece and hung in the entrance. It was unveiled April 7, 1966.

For 20 years after the churches merged, an 1895 Hinners & Albertsen tracker pipe organ stood abandoned in Trinity Methodist Church. When the building was scheduled to be razed in 1973 as part of the Urban Renewal Program, Ashland decided to buy and restore the instrument.

"When we got the organ and brought it here, it just fit perfectly," Smith said. "We are really God people, in that we think that he has a plan. Everything seems to fit that plan."

The organ fit in an alcove of Ashland's existing altar with barely an inch to spare. Church members refurbished the instrument, and artist Janice O'Quinn repainted the hand-stenciled artwork on the case pipes.

During renovations over the years, the church has retained many historical elements, including stained-glass windows, the original building cornerstone, light fixtures and memorabilia. One remodel uncovered wooden beam ceilings that had been covered up. They are now exposed.

The scrapbooks, dating to the 1950s, were hand made by the church's historians, including Laura Moeri, who served as historian from 1954 to 1961 and Louise Kost Mosiman Hees, who served from 1961 to 2008. Smith took over the position in 2008.

"It's very interesting to me. It's not that I live in the past, but I like to know about the past because it helps us to look forward to the future," Smith said.

Today, several hundred people attend the church's three Sunday services, including traditional and contemporary services. Once a year, they celebrate "Heritage Sunday" to mark the laying of the cornerstone in 1953 and the church's history.

The church, led by pastors Gary and Tere DeWitt, has a baseball team that has won dozens of trophies on display at the church. It also has a Boy Scout troop, Sunday school programs and Mother's Day Out, a twice-a-week day care program. The congregation hopes to start remodeling the fellowship hall and kitchen by 2016.

"It's quite a team church. They all work together for the good of the church," Smith says. "It's a family church, that's for sure."

Information from: St. Joseph News-Press/St. Joe, Missouri, http://www.newspressnow.com