St. John UCC in Ashley is the first church on our Stained Glass Tour. They celebrated their 170th anniversary in 2024 by restoring their beautiful, central stained glass window. Pastor Kim Nusbaum currently shepherds this congregation. They are located at 0027 CR 23 in Ashley and would welcome you to join their family. You can find them on Facebook.

The history of these art-glass windows is as follows:

In January of 1915 Rev. H.L. Hart began a ministry that was to last 7 years with the exception of 1915 when W.H. Schroer filled in. During this period $350.00 was the pledged salary to the minister. In 1916 a complete remodeling project was undertaken. Plans were made to move the church 10 feet east and 25 feet south, put a basement under and build a vestibule on the northwest corner and a recess on the east side. Plans were also included to reroof the church, put in new art-glass windows and reseat it. The building committee consisted of: Irvin Bair, Ernest Piffer, Len Shipe, C.T. Elson, Frank Henney, A.B. Goodrich, Albert Higby and the Rev. Hart. The total cost of the project was $2700. The church was dedicated on December 10, 1916 with morning, afternoon, and evening services. Dinner and supper meals were served in the basement. Rev. Wm. S. Adams of Akron was the guest speaker. The unprovided $1100 of the building costs were pledged in 31 minutes on the day of the dedication, which gave much credit to the congregation as average collections were fifteen to twenty dollars. (Provided by Nusbaum from a history book)

If you would like more information about St. John's, there was an article written by KPC News in 2006 for their 150th anniversary that you can find here.

St. John's United Church of Christ