Hope United Methodist Church

83 W. Columbus Street

Ludwig Kramer

I may not have been the first settler in the area, but I was one of the first arriving in 1807 just four years after Ohio became a state. I was a farmer and a miller and I built my house and mill down in the area where the covered bridge stands now. Of course, the covered bridge wasn’t there yet and wasn’t for another 80 years. Folks had to ford the Big Walnut which means to make it crossable. Early in my life in this area I became acquainted with George Bennadem, one of the first evangelists in Ohio. Under his influence, I became a preacher and organized the Kramer Sunday School class in 1815. It met in homes until I built a large meeting room adjacent to my house. In 1830 I sold my house to Henry Dietz reserving the right to hold our class meetings in the room. Our meetings became so evangelistic, you know noisy) that Mr. Dietz bought us out. The money we received from this sale was devoted to help erect a church building. A frame church was erected on Lot #4 right where you are standing.

So we became a church of firsts… Let me FIRST start there:

First: Congregation 1815

Church Building: 1833

Sunday School: 1833

Church Bell: 1846

Organ Music: 1865

Children’s Day: 1879

In 1851 the frame church was moved across the street where we met until our new brick church (still on the same foundation, but now with a basement area finished.) In 1887 that church was taken down and the present church was erected…yes, on the same foundation. I don’t have any ghost stories to tell you but I do have a mystery; why did our church fathers build 3 churches the same size and in the same place in the short span of 54 years? The second mystery is why did they also build 3 parsonages in 48 years? My will and house are gone, but this is my legacy (indicates the church). These walls have been witness to great happiness and deep sorrow, we continue on. We celebrated our 206th birthday last year, and it’s present members plan 200 more… we’ll see.

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FAITH – HOPE MERGE PROCESS

It is with sadness that we recognize defeat in our hope to merge our two congregations. We truly love the people from each church, but there were just too many attachments to our present buildings to come to a reasonable decision. Beginning in November we will return to our pre-pandemic schedule of worship at Hope at 9:30 AM and Faith at 11:00 AM.

HOPE HOSTS A NUMBER OF COMMUNITY GROUPS

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Here is a current list of the community groups that Hope hosts, primarily in our roomy Hanby Hall:

Quilters each Monday 9-2

Lions Club on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays

The Community Coffee Hour

The Canal Winchester / Lithopolis Ministerial Association on the first Thursday each Month

Other groups include VFW, American Legion, and the CW Downtown Association.