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| Old Stone Church An Osawatomie Treasure |
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| Opinion | |||
| Written by Grady Atwater | |||
| Wednesday, 04 November 2009 08:00 | |||
The Osawatomie Ministerial Alliance gathered the town’s citizens together to rededicate the Old Stone Church on Sunday, July 14, 1963. Rex Grow was the organist for the service, and the Rev. George Snyder of First Baptist Church gave the invocation. The Rev. Neil MacPherson of the Church of the Nazarene read the scripture. Chester J. Ward, the great-grandson of the Rev. Samuel Adair, introduced special attendees, and Rosalie Ward Conner, the great-great-granddaughter of Adair, read a history of the Old Stone Church.  Alden O. Weber, president of the Osawatomie Historical Society, introduced the speaker, the Rev. Paul Davis, pastor of the Plymouth Congregationalist Church in Lawrence. After Davis’ sermon, the Rev. William H. Hart, pastor of First Christian Church, led citizens in a liturgy of dedication. The Rev. Harold Brown of First United Methodist Church offered a prayer of rededication and Joe McIntosh performed an offertory. The Rev. William Hart gave the doxology, and the Rev. Floyd Guliford of Ebenezer Baptist Church prayed the benediction. The Old Stone Church had fallen into disrepair, and Jessie Willis Remington, the granddaughter of Adair, left $20,000 for the restoration and maintenance of the church. The building was in deplorable condition. Rosalie Conner stated in the rededication program that “restoration work included cementing and complete replastering inside. The roof had fallen into such a state of deterioration that a new roof, to duplicate the old, had to be constructed. One walnut beam of the old original structure still exists in the roof structure at the front end of the building.” Conner also wrote in the rededication program that most of the church’s original furnishings were found and returned. “All of the original pews, except one, were returned to the church,” Conner wrote, “along with two of the original pulpit chairs. One new chair has been made by Mr. Sutton of Ottawa to duplicate the chair that was lost.” The effort to restore the Old Stone Church was led by the Osawatomie Historical Society — an effort that began in 1948 — and Weber, who coordinated a united effort by the community to restore the Old Stone Church. J.E. McIntosh, a member of the Osawatomie Historical Society, who worked on the project, stated in 1948: “We believe this old church building is of sufficient historical significance to warrant its being preserved. Certainly, it has a strong hold on the sentiments of many people who have lived in Osawatomie through the years.” The Old Stone Church is an Osawatomie treasure, a link to the town’s spiritual and social past that has stood since 1861. From 1948 to 1963, the community worked to restore the church, and on July 14, 1963, the community gathered to celebrate the restoration of the church. Osawatomie is unique in that is has so many standing historic sites, which is due to the hard work of people in the past who worked to preserve them. Historic preservation is a constant task that is passed down from generation to generation, and it is imperative that we continue to work to preserve our historic sites for future generations. — Grady Atwater is administrator of John Brown State Historic Site.
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