Dr. Milton Loyer, Conference Archivist
Groundbreaking for York’s new Second United Brethren Church at 401 South Queen Street was held July 12, 1925. The congregation began in 1873 when Rev. William B. Raber, pastor of York First Church, acting on his own, purchased the plot of ground at the southeast corner of Duke and South Streets. Before the end of the year, the quarterly conference of First church elected trustees for the property, 26 members of First Church became the charter members of Second Church, and a frame church building had been erected at the site.
In 1892 a brick structure replaced the original chapel, and in 1906 an addition doubled the size of the building. In 1926 the congregation relocated to its new building a few blocks east to the southeast corner of Queen and South Streets. Following the 1968 union to create the United Methodist Church, the congregation was renamed Faith, and in 1969 they joined with Wesley Memorial [the former Duke Street Methodist Episcopal Church which had relocated to Tyler Run Road in 1964] to form Aldersgate UMC. The building at 401 South Queen now houses the Small Memorial AME Zion Church, and the York Aldersgate congregation disaffiliated from the UMC in 2023.
August – 50 years ago
The Central Pennsylvania Conference’s annual Schools of Christian Mission took place at Lycoming College in August 1975, with the week-end school August 1-3 and the week-day school August 4-8. Fees for registration, rooms, board and insurance were $24 for the week-end portion and $42 for the week-day event. Presentation on the theme “One World Under God” featured conference pastors, conference UMW leaders, missionaries and General Church staff members. In addition to the presenters and organizers, a total of 97 persons registered for the schools.
On August 18, 1975, Rev. John Dromazas of the five-point Whitneyville Parish in Tioga County helped bring Christian Missions to life in the Wellsboro area when he and other pastors and lay persons worked together to provide the eleven-member Dong Nhieu immigrant family from Vietnam with clothing, jobs, English lessons and a nine-room house completely furnished “from light bulbs to beds.” Within six weeks the family was self-sufficient.
