Arthur Baptist |
A big thank you to Mrs. Marian Turin Sonichsen for providing us with several documents on the Arthur Baptist Church. Several interesting histories with lots of names to add to the data base. Plenty of pictures too. The church was started back in October of 1885 and continued actively serving the area for over 90 years. My memories of the church go especially to the 4th of July Sunday School picnics they would host on the church grounds. Picking-up-peanuts, foot races, the mens tug-of-war, the ladies nail hammering contest, the softball game -- all the fun things of rural childhood. Unfortunately, the mechanization revolution in the agriculture industry over the last quarter of the twentieth century has marked the end to so many rural institutions. It is no different in Hayes Township where the effects manifested themselves in a slowly diminishing rural population. It is against this setting that, sadly, the church closed its doors forever in March of 1978. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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