Dr. Milton Loyer, Conference Archivist
March – 100 years ago
The Central Pennsylvania Conference met at the Newberry Methodist Episcopal Church, Newberry PA, March 16-21, 1921. Superintendent for Sunday School Work, Edwin C. Keboch, reported on the ongoing efforts to organize graded Sunday School classes in rural churches. The 4-week Fulton-Juniata campaign resulting in the following: 20 teacher training classes with 214 enrolled, 97 Sunday School classes organized with 1219 scholars, 106 professed conversions, 109 new church members.
Newberry is now the western part of Williamsport. The former Methodist congregation at Newberry merged into the former EUB congregation there in 2004 to become the present
Williamsport St. John’s – Newberry UMC. The Methodist building that hosted the 1921 annual conference has been remodeled by the united congregation to become the West End Community Christian Center.
April – 50 years ago
The April 1971 Wyoming Conference United Methodist featured a four-page special spread proclaiming April 25, 1971, as Sky Lake Day and announcing extensive expansion plans. The project was to include 28 trailer and camp sites with electric access and a service building for bathroom and laundry facilities. In addition, construction was planned for two 24-30 person lodges similar to the main lodge.
Located in New Windsor NY, Sky Lake was purchased by the Wyoming Conference in 1947. Since the division of the Wyoming Conference along state lines in 2010, this 900 acre site has been operated by the Upper New York Conference and advertised by the Susquehanna Conference – along with its own facilities at Camp Penn, Greene Hills, Mount Asbury and Wesley Forest – as a camping/retreat option, especially for those former Wyoming Conference congregations in Pennsylvania
