East Ohio Commission on archives and History

East Ohio Conference Landmarks and Historic Sites

The Bishop John Seybert/Flat Rock Cluster Heritage Landmark is the one United Methodist Heritage Landmark within the bounds of the East Ohio Conference. A Heritage Landmark is a structure or location  related to the overall history of The United Methodist Church. The Landmark is located near Bellevue and consists of nine sites related to Bishop John Seybert, the first Bishop of the Evangelical Association. It was approved as an official Landmark by the 1992 General Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Tiffin St. Paul’s United Methodist Church (Historic Site number 155) is located at 46 Madison Street, in Tiffin, Ohio. The church was built in 1874. St. Paul’s enjoys a unique distinction in its lighting system. The Tiffin Edison Electric Illuminating Company plant, erected in the fall of 1883, was the third central station plant in the country. In December of 1883, during the completion of the second floor sanctuary, St. Paul’s was wired for electric lights – the first church in the world to be illuminated by the Edison electric light. The ornate brass chandelier presented to the church by the Edison Electric Light Company of New York is still in use today.

 

Dr. Allan Hall, Chairperson
2005-2008

Carol Holliger
Archivist, Archives of Ohio United Methodism

Bill Drown
East Ohio Conference Historian

 

Hopewell United Methodist Church (Historic Site number 163) is located on Co. Rd. 4 and Rush Run Rd, near Rayland, Ohio, on the Ohio River. Hopewell was the first Methodist Episcopal church built in Eastern Ohio. The first ordination of record in Ohio took place here. Bishop Francis Asbury ordained Rev. John Wrenshall on September 10, 1803 and consecrated the Hopewell building on September 11, 1803. The small log church was replaced in 1844 by a brick structure. The Conference cane is made from one of the logs of the original building. The cane is presented to the oldest United Methodist minister in the East Ohio Conference at its annual session.

Bishop Seybert Memorial Cottage at Linwood Park Vermillion, Ohio (Historic Site number 201). The Ohio East Conference Historical Society built Seybert Cottage as a memorial to Bishop Seybert in 1948. The large room on the ground floor has a large stone fireplace constructed with stones from the Old Stone Church at Flat Rock Ohio. This cottage is now privately owned. Linwood Park was the Chautauqua campground of the Evangelical Association.

Bishop Seybert Gravesite, Flat Rock, Ohio (Historic Site number 202) is located on Thompson Township Road 178 next to Seneca Caverns.

The Greensburg Historic Site Cluster (Historic Site number 245) is a 12-site group with the Greensburg Emanuel United Methodist Church, 2161 Greensburg Road, Greensburg, Ohio as the central point. The cluster includes the site of the first Evangelical church building in Ohio, the Greensburg Seminary site (as well as the former dormitory site), the site of the Highland Park Campground of the United Evangelical Church and the Klinefelter Cemetery, the Greensburg Cemetery, Thursby Rd., which is the site of the original church, and the Conrad Dillman home.

Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church (Historic Site number 306) is located at 1919 E. 107th St, Cleveland, Ohio. The Epworth League was organized here. In 1889, a Uniting Conference for all of the young peoples’ societies of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States was held at Cleveland’s Central Methodist Church (rebuilt in 1893 and renamed Epworth Memorial in honor of the organization of the Epworth League). The purpose of the conference was to unify the various youth groups into one organization. After two and one half days of prayer and soul searching, a new organization was born – The Epworth League. In 1920, the Epworth Memorial and Euclid Avenue churches merged to form Epworth-Euclid. The Epworth Memorial Church was sold and demolished, but the Epworth League Window can still be seen at the Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church.

Thoburn United Methodist Church (Historic Site number 341) is located in St. Clairsville, Belmont County. It is dedicated to the memory of St. Clairsville natives Bishop James M. Thoburn and his sister Isabella Thoburn. James went to India as a missionary and was elected India’s first Methodist missionary bishop. Isabella was the first missionary appointed by the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She too was sent to India and started a school for girls now known as Isabella Thoburn College.