By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

The Lincolnville United Methodist Church will close its doors for good May 22. It is thought to be the oldest sanctuary still in use in Marion County.

Tom and Lynley Remy of rural Lost Springs have attended the church almost all of their married life.

Lynley Remy’s grandparents, the late Al and Verna Riffel, and her mother, Sue (Riffel) Gutsch, were baptized there, as well as Lynley, her brother and sisters, and two of the Remys’ three children. Tom and Lynley were married there.

The church housed a preschool for a few years and had a Wednesday children’s program for a while.

“I am desperately sad to see the church close,” Lynley Remy said. “I started playing piano there for Sunday school when I was 11. I’ve been playing the piano for worship since I was 15 or 16. The building holds so many memories, and I hate to think of it standing empty.”

Attendance has varied between 12 and 25 people in recent months. A deathblow was dealt this past winter when two heaters in the church gave out and pipes were frozen. The congregation did not meet for a while, and in January the decision was made to close it.

The church building was dedicated in November 1887, but the congregation existed for several years before that, meeting in homes at first, and then the stone schoolhouse.

Early charter members were the families of Rueben and John Gilbert and George Kaiser.

Daniel Sill, an early Lincolnville settler and a Methodist minister, donated the land on which the church was built. His great-grandson, 78-year-old Leonard Smith of Marion, grew up at Lincolnville and still attends church services there.

At the time the church was built, an article in the Lincolnville Star proclaimed, “by the assistance of the kind people of this place and of Marion, we have been enabled to build one of the finest churches in the county.”

The bishop from Chicago officiated at the 11 a.m. dedication. That afternoon, at 3 p.m., a special German service was held, ostensibly to attract more people.

The Rev. Herb Sill, grandson of Daniel Sill, became the first minister of the church. It was known as Lincolnville Evangelical Church.

In ensuing years, ministers would serve more than one church. This continued throughout most of the church’s history.

The current pastor, the Rev. Faye Wagner, serves Lincolnville and Valley United Methodist Church in Marion.

Early history

The late Ella Gilbert Steeley, who was a lifelong member of the church, was a child when it was built. She described it as having a bell tower and small stained-glass windows. The church was heated by a coal furnace under the floor. Later two stoves were installed on the north and south sides.

The pews were hand-hewn, with full-length pews in the middle and half-length pews on the sides. The altar also was handmade.

The church was lighted by kerosene lamps, one at each window and a chandelier with 8 or 10 lamps in the center.

Steeley remembered the big Bible. She said the children sometimes would arrive early to look at the pictures in the back pages.

In 1907, additional land was secured and a parsonage and barn were built. Those still were horse and buggy days.

The late Al Riffel wrote his memories of the church after 1918. He was 8 years old then.

He said the church had an open bell tower. The bell could be seen and heard from all directions. However, that meant that rain and snow could blow in, eventually rotting the structure supporting the bell and the floor upon which it stood. The water would leak down into the vestibule and sanctuary.

“It was dangerous to ring the bell for fear that it may come tumbling down, so the bell rope was tied up so it could not be reached,” Riffel wrote.

Eventually, a contractor was hired to tear the tower down and construct the present roof over the vestibule.

Around 1920, the church helped host “camp meetings.” They were held in the Hammer Grove, a cluster of large trees west of the highway about 2.5 miles south of Lincolnville.

“People would come from all over the state to these camp meetings which lasted from 10 days to two weeks,” he wrote. “Some people lived and camped in their tents for the entire two weeks. Meetings were held nightly during the week with prayer, sermon, and song; and three services were held on Sundays.”

Mergers and growth

In 1946, the Evangelical Church conference and the United Brethren Church conference united as the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

The Lincolnville, Lost Springs, and Tampa churches became a three-point charge in 1949, with one minister serving all three churches.

James Cott of Salina, formerly of Lincolnville and a member of the church, wrote about the 10-year period from 1958 to 1968, known as the “Mennonite years.” During that time, the church was served mostly by missionaries and students from Tabor College.

He said the first couple of years saw sparse attendance, but as families grew, the congregation grew.

Then, Cott said, miracles started happening. His Sunday school class decided to pool their money at 25 cents each for a light on the pulpit. Then they decided it would be nice to get an electric organ. But where would the money come from? Surprisingly, the funds were raised and an organ was purchased.

Not satisfied with those results, they wanted to have space for Sunday school rooms and improvements. The Sunday school classes were meeting in the various corners of the church sanctuary, and there was no indoor plumbing.

“We used so little electricity each month that Kansas Power and Light never bothered to send us a bill at all,” Cott wrote.

The church bought the former Pleasantview schoolhouse eight miles south of Lincolnville and attached it to the south side of the building. It was to contain Sunday school rooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen.

The Harold Bowers family was living in the parsonage. They lived rent-free in exchange for keeping the place maintained. Bowers was the sparkplug that kept everyone working on the annex, Cott said. They installed running water, paneled walls, and made many other renovations.

Ralph Croyle of rural Lincolnville donated the cement blocks for the foundation, and Al Riffel made a cross that still adorns the wall at the front of the sanctuary.

In 1968, the addition was complete. The Tampa Evangelical United Brethren Church decided to join the Lincolnville congregation. By then, the Bowers had moved out of the parsonage, and the church had decided to sell it.

That same year, the EUB church merged with the Methodist church to form the United Methodist Church. Lincolnville UMC became part of a three-point charge including Lost Springs and Hope.

In 1980, the Lost Springs church closed and several of its members joined the Lincolnville church.

In following years, more improvements were made to the church, including new pews and carpeting and a fresh paint job. The church celebrated its centennial in 1987.

In the late 1990s, the church building was jacked up and foundation repairs were made.

Facing closure

The final worship service will be at 10 a.m. May 22, followed by a meal in the Lincolnville Community Center. Former members are invited to attend.