Remembering Our Heritage

Dr. Milton Loyer, Conference Archivist

July – 100 years ago

     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.

Remembering Our Heritage

Dr. Milton Loyer, Conference Archivist

March – 100 years ago 

On March 2, 1924, the Otterbein United Brethren Church in Harrisburg dedicated its new parsonage on 220 Harris Street. The first floor of the old parsonage adjoining the Reily Street sanctuary was converted into a room for the men’s Bible class, and the second and third floors were made into apartments. This was part of the congregation’s long-range relocation plan. In 1928 they erected a new facility at Third and Peffer Streets. Designed as a Sunday School unit, the building proved so adequate for worship, education and fellowship that the once envisioned sanctuary was never added. The congregation’s membership and attendance peaked at 1164 in 1959, and the church was closed in 2003. The Reily Street building is now the United House of Prayer for All People church, and the Peffer Street building is now the New Day International Kingdom Ministries church.

April – 50 years ago

On April 7, 1974, the youth of Uriah UMC in Cumberland County turned a bike hike into a money-raising project for the Conference’s benevolent homes. Accompanied by their advisors and pastor Rev. Mel Bole, the teens rode 15 miles from the church to Laurel Lake and back. The 2½ hour journey netted over $500. The top money raiser with $86.25 was Kathy Bream, while her 13-year-old cousin Sid Bream netted $45.50. Sid Bream went on the play major league baseball 1983-94 and is best known for his bottom of the 9th inning 1992 slide in game 7 of the NLCS that won the game for the Atlanta Braves and sent them to the World Series. Two of the girls, Lynn Weigle and Jessie Waggoner accomplished the ride on a bicycle-built-for-two. While everyone got a little saddle sore, the youth agreed that “it was a small sacrifice for the elderly folks in our Homes compared to the sacrifice that Jesus made.”

The Archives of the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church are located at Lycoming College, Williamsport. For more information and to arrange a visit to the archives, visit https://umarch.lycoming.edu/, email loyer@lycoming.edu or call 717-766-0977.

Remembering Our Heritage

Dr. Milton Loyer, Conference Archivist

November – 100 years ago

The November 24, 1923, issue of The Evangelical Messenger, weekly newspaper of the Evangelical Church, reported on two revivals within our present conference. 

Rev. B.L. Moore reported from Mt. Rock, Cumberland County: “We have just closed a two and a half week’s evangelistic campaign. Rev. H.R. Wilkes of Baltimore was with us and rendered valuable service. As a real evangelist he has few peers. There was a revival in the church and the conversion of seven souls – five of these are heads of families. We now have our second meeting in progress at McAllister’s appointment [now Good Shepherd Community UMC].”

Rev. A.E. Miller reported from Wiconisco Calvary, Dauphin County: “We held a three weeks’ evangelistic campaign. An effort was made in the Sunday School the last Sunday of the campaign and twenty-four scholars bowed at the mercy seat for pardon. All told, there were twenty-six conversions, and two were reclaimed.”

December – 50 years ago 

December 2, 1973, marked the end of a week-long celebration for the dedication of the new Woodycrest church building. The congregation had been organized in the growing greater State College area by the Allegheny Conference of the United Brethren Church in 1936 with 18 charter members. The new building also marked the end of worshiping in a recycled building with many recycled items.

Their first building had been an abandoned Presbyterian structure from the Warrior’s Mark area that was dismantled and rebuilt in Woodycrest. The bell and gas lamps came from the Paradise United Brethren Church, near Waddle, which had been vacated in 1933. The hymnals came from the Methodist Church in State College. Even in the new building, however, the pews were recycled (and carefully refinished) from the old Methodist Church in Lemont that had recently located to their facility on Branch Road. Woodycrest UMC reported a membership last year of 71. 

Remembering Our Heritage

November – 100 years ago

The November 1922 “Forward Campaign” of the Binghamton District of the Wyoming proved to be one of the most successful endeavors ever.  Two of the top three congregations involved in the Storehouse/Tithing stewardship program that was the climax of the campaign were Athens and Sayre, with 700 and 600 congregants participating respectively. 

During the month-long campaign, congregations had one intensive week of events which included guest speakers and two special programs that traveled around the district and attracted large audiences: the pageant “The Pariah” from India, and the play “Unshackling the Church” written and produced by two pastors of the Conference.  Speakers during the intensive week came from denominational ministries across the U.S. and various mission fields.

December – 50 years ago

A new two-story Christian Education building, 64x36 feet, was dedicated at First UMC in Marion, Franklin County, on December 10, 1972.  This congregation was originally United Brethren and has been a regular appointment since 1835.  The first building was erected by the cemetery in 1843 and replaced by a larger structure in 1886.  The sanctuary at the present location was dedicated in 1925, using much of the material from the structure at the old site.  

The congregation has continued to grow, and a large 2017 addition to the building included a covered drop-off entry, a spacious foyer, a new nursery, 100% handicap-friendly main-level bathrooms, a large multi-purpose room, and a commercial-grade kitchen.  Marion First UMC now has over 250 members.

Remembering Our Heritage

Dr. Milton Loyer, Conference Archivist

July – 100 years ago. 

On Sunday, July 2, 1922, the parishioners of Harrisburg’s Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church marched from the large temporary wooden tabernacle at 20th and Derry Streets in which they had been meeting to their new stone church building.  The congregation had begun in 1890 when 88 persons met in the East End School House on 21st Street to organize a Sunday School.  A church building was dedicated at 21st and Derry in 1891, and added to in 1899 and 1902.  The original frame building was razed to make way for the new stone sanctuary on the same site.  Formally dedicated in September by Bishop McDowell, the structure was modeled after First Church, Altoona, home church of the then current pastor Homer C. Knox.

Epworth’s membership peaked at 891 in 1963.  In 1986 Epworth and Derry Street (formerly United Brethren) formed a two-point charge in the Allison Hill area, and in 2005 the church was closed.  The building was sold and now houses the Bethany AME congregation.

August – 50 years ago

The Mt. Pleasant Church in Rosecrans, on the three-point Sugar Valley charge, was formally sold to the Mt. Pleasant Community Church in August 1972.  The building had been erected by the Evangelical Association in 1893, and the pastor and congregation left the denomination in 1968 – although it would be almost four years before all the arrangements were completed.  The congregation continues today as the Mt. Pleasant Bible Church.

Located in southern Clinton County, Sugar Valley became an Evangelical stronghold in the 1830’s and contained seven Evangelical Association church buildings in at the time of the 1894 denominational split – after which the United Evangelical dissenters erected six church buildings of their own.  The two groups re-united in 1922 and combined congregations until the 1968 Sugar Valley charge consisted of three churches.  Mt. Pleasant was the only surviving Evangelical Association congregation, as the two remaining United Methodist congregations at Greenburr and Loganton had originally been United Evangelical.

Remembering Our Heritage

 Dr. Milton Loyer, Conference Archivist

July – 100 years ago. 

The Central Pennsylvania Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church hosted its annual Dickinson College Summer School of Religious Education July 11-21, 1921.  Of the 280 paid registrants, 111 were men – and 73 of those were ministers.  There were 193 certificates presented to those completing their third year of course work.  Noted among the instructors was the Superintendent of Teacher Training from the state of Florida.  Noted among the courses was one on “Epworth League Methods.”

Bishop William F. McDowell preached the Sunday morning service – and in response to his invitation, 19 young people dedicated themselves to full-time Christian service.  Over 6,000 people from Carlisle and the surrounding area turned out to witness the impressive closing pageant, “The Deliverance of Moses.”

August – 50 years ago

August 1971 brought to conclusion a three month summer ministry by Rev. Robert Vowler and the Baughman Memorial Church in New Cumberland.  Each Thursday night during June, July and August, worship services were held in the sanctuary – with bulletins, ushers, greeters, special soloists and all the other components of the traditional Sunday morning service.  Like many other congregations, Baughman Memorial noticed that many families were using their summer weekends to take mini-vacations.  The prime motivation of the program was to give opportunity for worship to those who would be out of town the following weekend.   The sermon was the same as that of the following Sunday morning.  The average number attending throughout the summer was 80, with local church members comprising about ¾ of each service’s attendance.