HOW TO GO
When: Sept. 28 At 10 a.m., there will be a combined church service with United Methodist Ohio River Valley District Superintendent Rev. Brian Brown. At 11:30 a.m. will be a catered banquet featuring historical reflections from former FUMC Pastor Dr. Joseph Graham and musical selections from members of the congregation
Where: First United Methodist Church, 225 S. Ludlow St.
Tickets: For catered banquet: $15; $12 for ages 12 and younger
Reservations: Call 513-896-5683
One of Hamilton’s oldest churches will celebrate its 195th birthday on Sunday, and its members will salute its longstanding history with a homecoming commemoration on the property it has stood on since 1819.
The First United Methodist Church, 225 S. Ludlow St., has transitioned over the near-two centuries of its existence from a introspective congregation to an active community member, serving a pivotal role as a makeshift hospital in the neighborhood during the 1913 Flood and feeding and benefiting its surrounding community today.
Mary Alice Hensley was baptized in the Methodist church and became a member after her confirmation in the late 1940s. She remembers walking past the raucous bars on her way to choir practice from the bus stop on Third Street.
“I would run down and as soon as I could turn on Ludlow, I felt safe, because I could see the church,” she said.
She notes that the church membership has diminished throughout the years, but said one thing has stayed the same.
“It was always about how people cared about you,” she said. “This congregation has always been kind and full of love, but there was a time, I think, that we were very self-centered. We cared about our congregation, about the people here, about our building, but it was just this building and these people.”
Now, she sees the church pushing outward to benefit the entire Hamilton community, as a co-founder of downtown Hamilton churches’ Community Meal program, which continues to offer meals at no charge to members of the Hamilton community.
The church’s kitchen averages between 250 and 300 meals a week provided to members of the Hamilton community, and provides food and needed supplies to underprivileged residents with other local churches, as well as a safe place for children to trick or treat, at their annual Trunk or Treat event in downtown Hamilton.
Pastor Mark Finfrock, who began his appointment as pastor last June and had been a member for three years, says the church’s push to focus outward into Hamilton and his desire to enhance the community made the relationship a natural fit.
“It’s a mutual admiration society here,” he said. “These people have been extremely helpful in acclimating me not only here, but also in the pastorate.”
Church Historian John Haid is a fifth-generation FUMC member — not only was he born in the church, but his paternal grandparents were the first couple to be married in the church’s current building in 1927, and his father’s paternal grandparents were the first couple to be married in the prior church building.
“I’m inspired by the older members of the church,” he said. “I see how much work and effort are really required to allow the church to function, especially if it wants to help others and do more than go through the motions.”
Finfrock said that Haid’s family was not unique in having the church in his blood.
“They are not tourists,” he said. “I have yet to hear people who don’t think of the church as home.”
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