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ARCHIVES AND HISTORY

Landmarks and Historical Sites

The Bishop John Seybert/Flat Rock Cluster Heritage Landmark is the one UM 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 UMC. 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 UMC.

Tiffin St. Paul’s UMC (Historic Site number 155) is located at 46 Madison St., in Tiffin, OH. The church was built in 1874. St. Paul’s enjoys a unique distinction in its lighting system. In December of 1883, during the completion of the second floor sanctuary, St. Paul’s was wired for electric lights – becoming 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.

Hopewell UMC (Historic Site number 163) is located on CR 4 and Rush Run Rd., near Rayland, on the Ohio River. Hopewell was the first Methodist Episcopal church built in Eastern Ohio. The first ordination of record in the state took place there. Bishop Francis Asbury ordained Rev. John Wrenshall on September 10, 1803 and consecrated the Hopewell building on September 11 of that year. 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 UM minister in the East Ohio Conference at its annual session.

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

The Bishop Seybert Gravesite (Historic Site number 202) is located on Thompson TR 178 next to Seneca Caverns in Flat Rock.

The Greensburg Historic Site Cluster (Historic Site number 245) has Greensburg Emanuel UMC (2161 Greensburg Rd. in Greensburg) as its central point. Among the 11 other sites in the cluster are:

• the site of the first Evangelical church building in Ohio
• the Greensburg Seminary site
• the site of the Highland Park Campground of the United Evangelical Church
• the Klinefelter Cemetery
• the Greensburg Cemetery on Thursby Rd., which is the site of the original church
• the Conrad Dillman home

University Circle UMC (Historic Site number 306) is located at 1919 E 107th St., in Cleveland. 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.  It is the site of the former Epworth Euclid UMC. The purpose of the conference was to unify the various youth groups into one organization. After two and a half days of prayer and soul searching, a new organization was born – The Epworth League. The church was rebuilt in 1893 and renamed Epworth Memorial in honor of the organization of 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 UMC.

Thoburn UMC (Historic Site number 341) is located in St. Clairsville in 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.