First United Methodist Church

Two years after the fire took place, the congregation, along with the help of RCM Architects, Inc., rebuilt the church for its reopening on Easter Sunday, March 2015. This $6 million-dollar project contains features of Gothic-style architecture, while still paying respects to the original, old, stone building. The new stone and brick building has 25,000 square feet of usable space, including a second-floor sanctuary space which can accommodate 240 people, a fellowship hall, and commercial-grade kitchen on the first floor. Additionally, there are rooms of the Children’s Ministry, Christian Education programs, and Ready Set Grow Preschool. The First United Methodist Church also founded and supports ReStore, a ministry to serve low income individuals and families with worship, prayer, education, and social services, while working closely with the local food pantry. 

The fire condemned the old church to a total loss. The stained-glass windows were melted, the century-old hand carved woodworking featured throughout the church was consumed, and the only remnants of the altar was the pile of ash left in its place. In fact, all that remained of the Ada First United Methodist Church was the strong stone foundation and the 1,300-pound cast-bronze church bell, but even it was slightly damaged from crashing down through the fire from lack of structural support. The parishioners wanted to save the bell for the new building, but they did not know how or even where to begin with this process until Ohio Northern University Chaplain David MacDonald had an idea for the restoration. This would lead to a unique learning opportunity for ONU students in the form of an EPICS project. EPICS stands for engineering projects in community service, and figuring out how to both restore and display the bell at the church would put the civil engineers’ project management skills to the test. 

To begin, engineering students contacted Verdin Bell, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, a company that has been casting and repairing bells for 170 years. With the bell restored, the next step was to determine a method of how to display the bell in the new church. Many trial and error structural analyses were conducted by employees at Verdin Bell Company working together with the ONU engineering students. It was determined that the best way to display the bell would be to sit it on a square pedestal constructed from the same stained white oak lumber that would be used throughout the rebuilt church. The final step of this project was delivery. On February 2, 2015, with the pedestal completed and installed inside the new church, the restored bell was lifted and set. Today, the restored bell occupies a central place in the church entryway right next to the 1899 cornerstone.  

Even before the fire, the church held a close relationship with Ohio Northern University, a United Methodist-related institution. The university graciously loaned their on-campus chapel to the First United Methodist congregation for their services until the new church was built. Investigators believed numerous lighted candles were left unattended inside and caused the major fire at the Ada First United Methodist Church. A State Fire Marshal’s office spokesman reported to local newspapers and community members that there was no evidence of criminal intent. However, the fire obliterated the inside of the church preventing authorities from completing their investigation due to safety concerns. Local and neighboring community members reported the smell of smoke continued to linger in the air the day after the fire occurred.  

The original name was First Methodist Episcopal Church. However, the name changed to First United Methodist Church in 1968 when the merge between the Methodist denomination and the Evangelical United Brethren denomination occurred. Today, the congregation is comprised of 368 parishioners led by Rev. Brandi Grant-Rigsby, Pastor. First United Methodist Church prides themselves on giving back to the local community because of the tremendous support they received after the fire destroyed their church. Now, First United Methodist Church has many more community support services that were made possible through the efforts of the church members and Ohio Northern University students who came together to coordinate the rebuilding of this important community asset.

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Steiner, F. (2013, January 29). Ada First United Methodist Church Set to Rebuild on Historic Site. Retrieved November 2020, from Ada Icon: http://www.adaicon.com/news/201301/ada-first-united-methodist-church-set-rebuild-historic-site