This information is straight from The Church Dedication, a book
published for the dedication of the current building, which occurred on March 9-16, 1952.
The first church
building was purchased from the First Methodist Episcopal Church in 1846 at a cost of
six hundred dollars. It was located on Market Street, near Fifth Avenue. In 1870-71 the congregation purchased the
present site, Olive Avenue and Walnut Street and erected a church-building. In 1905-06 the front portion was added, with the
small tower and vestibule beneath. In the rear, the basement and the two rooms on each
side of the building above were added, with space for the organ and the hallway uniting
the rooms. That small basement was the first social room of the congregation. The social
life of the church had been centered in the annual summer-picnic and in dances and dinners
held, occasionally, in some hall in the City. In 1873 the school house with parsonage was erected. In
1878, another parsonage was built, three houses from the church on Olive Avenue at a cost
of just above two thousand dollars. The funding for the parsonage was covered by
subscriptions and the profits of a dance and a raffle. The property that the parsonage was
built on was donated for that purpose.
Plans for a new, modern church structure began in 1925. By 1930, nearly $10,000 had been
collected, and in 1931, a very successful campaign was held, with a total of cash and
pledges of $65,000. Construction was delayed until 1936, when the present parish house was
erected, at an approximate cost of $53,000, inclusive of furnishings, modernization of the
organ, and our chancel appointments.
In 1946 there was in the Building Fund for the proposed sanctuary about $40,000, with
about $10,000 of pledges yet outstanding. The congregation has thus raised nearly $100,000
toward its church building, a record of first-rate achievement, in view of the decade of
depression in this steel-town community. The parish-house
was dedicated free of debt in 1936. And the $6,000 of debts, for organ, repairs, and
furnishings, were covered in two years. Indeed, the people deserve great commendation. Nor
has the church the while neglected missions, for the annual contributions to the Greater
Church have slowly and steadily risen in the last two decades. In 1945, total benevolences
were above $1,600, with ho me-expenses about $8,500. That, with above $18,000 in cash
collected since the last building fund campaign in 1943, gives our people a worthy record.
With reasonable pride in splendid achievement and gratitude to God, our congregation looks
forward from its Centennial into the second century of its life and service, believing in
faith that the Lord will be gracious to let His work appear unto His servants and His
glory upon their children, praying that the favor of the Lord may be upon them
establishing the works of their hands upon them.(1946.)