TRAVIS LEFEVRE
Editor in Chief
On their first venture into the Village of Fredonia, first-year and transfers students may have noticed the church building undergoing construction. What they may not know is that last semester, the 165-year-old church suffered from a fire.
The church began under the ownership of the United Baptist Church when it was constructed in 1853. Throughout the years, the church building served as a station on the Underground Railroad as well as the place that helped to form the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.
Family Church Fredonia moved into the building on the corner of Temple and Church St. in 2015 and began a 1.3 million dollar initiative to renovate the building. Services in the church began in April 2017 and a little over a year later on May 4, a large fire charred the clocktower and caused water and smoke damage throughout the upper portion of the church building. An old tin roof underneath the newer roof helped to keep the fire from spreading further into the building.
“It looked bad, and of course it certainly wasn’t anything we would want to happen, but we just thanked God that He was going to turn it around and whatever happened in that instance that it was going to work out to our favor,” said Associate Pastor Scott Wise.
Following the fire, the GoFundMe page for the church’s renovations was repurposed to raise funds to repair the damage done. At this time, Family Church Fredonia has raised 7,547 of their 100,000 dollar goal.
“We always felt the clocktower was part of the community. . . . It’s on postcards and for anybody who’s alive today, [the clocktower has] been there. It’s really a staple of the community and we started the GoFundMe because we thought people would want to get behind restoring it because it’s not just our building, it’s a landmark,” said Wise.
Over the summer, the church was maintained for three weeks by a demolition and restoration team who cleaned up the inside and tore down the old tower. The rest of the summer consisted of insurance, paperwork and planning.
Next week, the church building will have its roof replaced and sealed. Once the winter passes, a new fiberglass tower will be installed on top of the building. This new tower will weigh less than the bell of the old tower.
Wise hopes to have the congregation moved back into the church building by June 1, 2019.
“We named the building ‘Magnificent’ and we believe when you call something that, that’s what it becomes. As we restore it, as we make it better than it was before, we’re just really excited for it. It’s an opportunity for our faith to shine and for God to show people that if they rely on Him to get through adversity that they will come out on top,” he said.
In the meantime, Family Church Fredonia will continue to raise money for renovations. Services are held every Monday at 10 a.m. and Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at 45 Lakeview Avenue.
Donations can be made for the repair of the historic church clocktower
at gofundme.com/fredonia-clocktower