{"id":5119,"date":"2016-07-07T10:17:34","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T14:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woosterumc.org\/?page_id=5119"},"modified":"2016-07-07T10:17:34","modified_gmt":"2016-07-07T14:17:34","slug":"our-heritage","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/woosterumc.org\/new\/our-heritage\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wooster United Methodist Church<\/h1>\n

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\"WUMC<\/a>Wooster Village was a preaching place on the circuit of the American Episcopal Church as early as 1811. By 1819, a Wooster Methodist Society was incorporated as the Church of the Tabernacle. On land received from Joseph H. Larwill, the first church building was built on the NE corner at North and Grant Streets at a cost of $1200. As attendance grew, a larger structure was needed, so in 1839, the original building was razed and a larger one was built on the same site at a cost of $2700.<\/p>\n

In 1872, dissensions among the congregation had developed and a splinter group left the congregation and started Trinity Methodist. They leased the unused Episcopal Church for worship until 1874, when D.Q. Liggett purchased property on the SE corner of Market and Larwill Streets and presented it to the congregation. A Gothic style church was built on this site\u00a0 and dedicated January 24, 1875. The cost was $9,000. It was named the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. Architect was C.M. Amsden of Wooster.<\/p>\n

On February 28,1886, the Church of the Tabernacle burned to the ground. This led to the reunion of the two congregations. The combined membership of 500-600 taxed the capacity of Trinity Church, so that building was razed and a much larger one erected on the same site at a cost of $26,000. The press referred to the structure as \u201cthe finest house of worship in Ohio.\u201d Weary and Kramer of Akron were the architects. The building may have been completed in late 1886, for that date appears on the colored glass panels on the west side (front) of the church. It was dedicated on May 8, 1887.<\/p>\n

The dimensions of the building were 70 feet fronting on N Market and 117.5 feet on E Larwill. The distance from the ground to the top of the spire is 125 feet.<\/p>\n

Marshall Bros. of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania furnished the cathedral stained glass according to the Jacksonian Paper on November 25, 1886.<\/p>\n

An educational building, originally named the Education and Recreation Building because it provided a gymnasium, was added to the east side of the original building in 1926.<\/p>\n

During 1951, a major outside repair and remodeling program for the sanctuary was begun. Later, the front of the church was renovated and a new Aeolian-Skinner organ was built. More classrooms, offices, a library, small chapel, and kitchen were added by extending the building to the south in 1961, which required the razing of the parsonage. Along with the addition of this new Education Building, there was also extensive remodeling and refurnishing of Sunday School rooms, parlor, and kitchen.<\/p>\n

The official name of the church was changed again in 1968 to The United Methodist Church of Wooster, Ohio.<\/p>\n

Air conditioning was installed in the sanctuary and Wesley Hall in 1990. A chapel was created from existing space in 1991 and, that same year, \u201cThe Pit\u201d was remodeled into an attractive activity room for groups of all ages. It is now known as \u201cMiller Hall.\u201d The gym was remodeled in 1992, and the next year,\u00a0new land was developed for a 50 car parking lot. The year 1995 included construction of a new entrance and handicapped accessibility, including an elevator, and renovation of the chancel platform and choir space. Turney Lounge was also remodeled into two conference rooms the following year. In 2011, the gym was renovated once again to become our Youth Center.<\/p>\n

Interesting dates in our history:<\/b><\/p>\n