History of Converse Church of Christ

The Christian Church was organized in the year 1867 in Xenia (now Converse) Indiana. Elder Henry Olinger organized the church with the following charter members: Elizabeth Howe, Mr. & Mrs. W.J.F. Saucier, Mr. & Mrs. Lewis Wintrow, Mr. & Mrs. David Lewis, Mr. & Mrs. George Hayworth, and Mr. & Mrs. Henry Olinger. They first organized the Christian church in the United Brethren Church, which stood on the lot where the Water Works now stands.

These Brethren soon met with opposition and the difficulty arose of some place to worship and to meet on the Lord's Day to break bread. They went from the U.B. Church to an old school building. They were forced to leave that place. They finally rented a room in the Saxon Hotel. In the year of 1867, the Trustees, W.J.T. Saucier, Samuel Lewis, and Lewis Wintrow bought the lot where the Church is now located from Mr. & Mrs. William E. Osborn for $75. The deed was made by J.W. Ewards as Notary Public.

The first Christian Church Building erected was a frame building in 1873-1874 and was dedicated by Elder Trowbridge with a meeting following in which 30 persons were added to the church. This building was destroyed by fire in January 1887. After all this, the little band of Disciples had the courage and faith to rebuild with a brick building, which was larger and better in every way.

Mr. James Noland and family moved to Xenia (now Converse) on April 1,1887. Mr. Noland and his son G.B. and Mr. Samuel Hunter finished the building which was dedicated in 1888. This building served as a place of worship until the year 1913. Since the Church had outgrown this building, it was torn down and Charles Reign Scoville dedicated the building being used today on December 20, 1913. The Pastor was W.J. Parks. After the dedication was given, a meeting was held with several new additions.

Ground was broken for an addition to the above structure on July 18, 1954 and dedication services were held June 5, 1955 with Joseph Gift as the speaker.

In the past decade, two lots to the east of the church building have been purchased and the older houses removed. A new parsonage was completed in 1967 and some additional parking space provided. At this time, the Church owned the full one-half block of property.

In 1973, the Church expanded, buying the Marvin Green home for the Youth Minister.

In August of 1977, the board voted to build an annex on the Church to the east for a new Jr. Church area, classrooms and an elevator for the use of older and handicapped people. Building took place in 1978 with completion in 1979. Remodeling of the kitchen took place in 1987. Edna Burk's property was purchased in 1987 for remodeling for the Youth Minister, which is east of the Church. A need for parking resulted in the purchase of two lots north of the Burk property in 1989. Two lots east of that were purchased in 1990, the Tucker and Miller properties.

The Church decided to expand to the east with a new sanctuary, classrooms, and fellowship hall. More parking was needed, so the Hendershot property was purchased, west of the Church, in 1990. North of the Church, the Ashcraft property was purchased. The parsonage was moved to the Miller property and the building was started in 1991 with completion sometime in 1992.

Would you like to contribute to this history? Please send your stories to the web ministry. Since most of this is "building" history, we would rather have more "people" stories to make it more complete.