RSSChurches of the Century
Yakima Herald-Republic
Highland United Methodist Church members Del and Marie Wolthausen sing during a service Sunday, September 21, 2008. The church is celebrating it's 100th anniversary this Sunday.
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It was a booming, building time.
Yakima Avenue was being paved. The YMCA was nearing completion. So was North Yakima High School and the historic George Donald House. The St. Joseph Academy building was finished a year later. So was Marquette High School.
The Yakima area was a hotbed of construction during the end of the first decade of the last century and the beginning of the second. A hundred years later, though, many of those old homes, schools and churches have been torn down or are no longer in use.
Of those that remain, two of them -- First Baptist Church in downtown Yakima and Highland United Methodist Church in Cowiche -- are celebrating their 100th anniversaries on Sunday with special worship services, followed by receptions.
Like Yakima's First Christian Church building, which now houses Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Yakima, at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Third Street, they were completed in 1908. Here's a glimpse at their histories.
First Baptist Church: 'Pillars of North Yakima City were members'
Black-and-white photos of the old stone church show the building much as it appears today. But instead of parked cars, horses and buggies are tied to the hitching post that ran along Sixth Street in front of the church.
Today, the hitching post is long gone. But a double-sided reader board, installed about eight years ago, proclaims affirmative messages to the community. And some people take the long way to work just to see it.
Located on the main drag, First Baptist -- with its three, large, signature, circular stained glass windows -- has been a cornerstone of downtown Yakima since it was completed a hundred years ago.
"This was the neighborhood of Yakima," says the Rev. Dave Roberts, pastor of the church, where "Some of the pillars of North Yakima City were members."
Founded in 1890, the church body celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1990. But the stone building wasn't completed until 1908. Ground was broken in November 1907. The cornerstone was installed in May 1908. And the building was dedicated in January 1909.
At that time, the church had nearly 500 members. Membership continued to grow to more than 600 in the 1940s, spurring expansion. An education wing -- "I call it the West Wing," the pastor says -- was built in 1948, and the sanctuary was remodeled about 10 years later. Subsequent remodeling took place in the 1980s.
But since then, membership at the American Baptist church -- the only one in Yakima -- has been declining. The church, which has sister churches of the same denomination in Prosser and Sunnyside, currently has about 150 members.
That's one of the reasons the church is planning to merge with Comunidad Cristiana La Verdad, a Spanish-language church that has been meeting at First Baptist since 2003. About two dozen people attend the Spanish-language church, which has already held several programs in conjunction with First Baptist, including a harvest festival and vacation Bible school.
"We could use a lot more people," says Roberts, the 25th pastor of the church. He's been serving since 1997.
Part of his ministry includes leading a weekly Bible study at Sun Tower next door. A group of about nine First Baptist members, with the support of their pastor, started the modest-income senior housing complex in the 1960s.
American Baptist Churches generally focus on social justice issues rather than evangelism, Roberts says. Founded as the Northern Baptist Convention in 1907, the organization represents about 1.5 million people in about 5,780 churches.
Church members aren't the only ones who meet at First Baptist. The church has housed the homeless, serving as an extreme-weather shelter during winter. Plus, four 12-step groups meet there. After the merger, a goal is to start a third Sunday worship service for second- and third-generation Latinos who are comfortable with English.
"We have a distinctive history," the pastor says.
If you go ...
What: 100th anniversary celebration for First Baptist Church.
When: 10:45 a.m. Sunday. A special worship service will be followed by an old-fashioned potluck picnic on the church lawn.
Where: 515 E. Yakima Ave., Yakima.
Highland United Methodist Church: 'where all my friends were'
It started in a tent on the banks of Cowiche Creek. Pioneers sat on plank seats and listened to the music of a portable organ.
Born of humble camp meetings, the little church in the heart of the Yakima Valley's fruit basket is celebrating a century of ministry. Former pastors and past members from across the country have been invited to attend.
And Angeline "Angie" Zeutenhorst, financial secretary for the church, known as "A Light Set on a Hill," is looking forward to seeing them.
"This is where all my friends were for a long time," says the 80-year-old, who's been a member of the country church for 61 of its 100 years.
In that time, Highland United Methodist has endured two mergers and name changes, a flu epidemic that closed the church for four months in 1918, gas rationing during World War II, which temporarily put an end to evening meetings, and several expansions and remodels.
For nearly six decades, the church has held a Community Candle Lighting Service in December with the help of local youth.
But these days, it's experiencing aging and declining membership. At one time, the church boasted more than 250 members. Now, membership hovers around two dozen people.
"A lot of people have moved to town and can't come anymore. You see the ages that we are," says 71-year-old Sylvia Rossow, a member of the church for 10 years.
"There is a feeling in the sanctuary when you walk into it that I have not experienced in any church," she says. "When I walk into that sanctuary, I know I am in God's presence."
The church organized in September 1908. Among the early donors was pioneer A.J. Splawn, an author, rancher and early Yakima Valley settler who served as mayor of North Yakima, now Yakima.
The first building, made of wood, was dedicated in 1909. The rebuilt brick building, where the church currently meets, was dedicated in 1928. According to a pamphlet on church history, the building's large, round Tiffany glass window came from a church in Minneapolis.
Growers gave returns from one or more apple trees to help clear the debt incurred by construction in a special fundraising campaign. When it was paid in 1942, the church celebrated with a note-burning ceremony.
Four years later, the Cowiche Evangelical Church merged with the United Brethren in Christ, creating Highland Evangelical United Brethren Church. After another merger in 1968 between the Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist Church, it became known by its current name.
"It's an old, old church, but it's still beautiful," says 83-year-old Dora Herman, a member since 1946. "The kids get married and move away. It's just the old ones that are still coming. I'm moving to town, but I'm still coming back. My son-in-law said he'll pick me up."
Twenty-six ministers served the church from 1908 to 2002. Since then, there have been five more. The Rev. Lowell Murphree, pastor here since 2007, splits his time with Tieton First Presbyterian Church.
"The most important thing is we are still here," Rossow says. "We are still serving our community, and we will welcome anybody that comes through the door."
If you go ...
What: Heritage Sunday at Highland United Methodist Church.
When: 10:45 a.m. Sunday. A special re-dedication service will be followed by a luncheon in the church fellowship hall.
Where: 261 Highland Road, Cowiche.
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