Landmarks foundation surveys historic Washington County churches
Rose's Thrifty Plus store in Paris is housed in a former church built in 1843.
St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in West Bethlehem Township was the first of just four “old believers” churches to be built in the United States.
Sandy Mansmann, coordinator of the Washington County History and Landmarks Foundation, takes notes at the former St. John’s Episcopal Church in West Brownsville as she conducts a survey of historic churches in the area.
PARIS – There is scant evidence to suggest a church built in 1843 is hidden under many layers of building material that have been added over the years to a building that is now a thrift store in Paris.
There is one small section of uncovered bricks and foundation stones on the outer back wall at Rose’s Thrifty Store on Old Steubenville Pike that offer a clue that the building was originally a church founded by a group that broke away from a Presbyterian congregation, said Sandy Mansmann, coordinator of Washington County History and Landmarks Foundation.
“You can go around back and see the old stone foundation, and from there, you can see the outline of the church,” Mansmann said as she conducts a survey of the area’s historic churches for the landmarks foundation.
The landmarks foundation conducted many building surveys in the past, such as those on log buildings, one-room schoolhouses and barns. The church study comes at a time when some congregations dwindled to the point where their churches closed.
“We always talked about doing churches and I thought, ‘Oh well, we should do it soon,'” Mansmann said.
A recent study revealed the percentage of Christians dropped in the United States to 70.6 from 78.4 in 2007 and their churches are not attracting millennials, the term applied to those who entered adulthood about 2000.
“There isn’t an interest in history and tradition in the church among millennials,” said Craig Kephart, executive presbyter of Washington Presbytery.
Rose Evans, who runs the thrift shop in Paris, said she was unaware until Mansmann walked into her store that she’s been doing business in a former church.
“That’s why I am blessed to be here,” Evans said. “There are three layers of wall over there,” she said, pointing to the other side of the room that previously was a convenience store.
The congregation known as Seceders dated to 1785 and kept the 1843 church for two decades before its members scattered and those remaining rejoined the Presbyterian Church, according to the “History of Washington County, Pennsylvania with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men” published in 1882 by Boyd Crumrine.
Mansmann is also intrigued by the former Zollarsville Methodist Church that closed in 2012 and went on to be repurposed as a nondenominational wedding chapel. That small brick building dates to 1842.
Mansmann said she is also researching the history of the former St. John’s Episcopal Church in West Brownsville. The church, built in the carpenter Gothic style in 1870, is now an Apostolic Temple.
Eventually, Mansmann will take up the Pigeon Creek Presbyterian Church in Dunningsville, the first congregation established in Washington County by John McMillan, according to the church’s records. McMillan preached the first service there in 1775 in what became the first Presbyterian church west of the Mononongahela River, the church history states. He also built three log schools in Canonsburg in 1780, laying the roots of what would become Washington & Jefferson College in Washington.
Mansmann said her project was awarded a $1,000 grant from the Washington County Community Foundation to produce a brochure highlighting various periods of church architecture.
“Then you get into the stories,” she said, adding the final report on the church histories she creates will be given to Citizens Library as research material.
Mansmann said she is seeking help from local churches in carrying out the survey through December. She can be contacted at 724-413-9921 or at s_mann41@hotmail.com.