Pataskala United Methodist Church started humbly around 1852 about a mile northwest of Pataskala on Muddy Creek Road. Between the years of 1853 and 1854, the members relocated to a building within the village because it was more accessible. The reverend Henry Lonnis and sixteen members began to meet in an old frame school house where the old Town Hall is located.
In 1856, a one room wooden frame building was built on the present site. It housed morning and evening church services, Sunday School, prayer meetings, Epworth League and Women’s Foreign Missionary Society meetings.
Our current brick building was built 1896-1897 at a cost of $10,000.00. Rafters were hand-hewn by Henry Brooke and William Condit. Julia Brook hand-carved the pulpit, which is still in use today. Reverend R.D. Morgan was pastor.
On April 21, 1898, our sanctuary was dedicated free of debt.
In 1927, Mr. L.R. Moore painted a large picture of Jesus in the sanctuary. A pipe organ was purchased from the Auditorium Theater in Newark in 1928 and the stained glass windows were renovated and protective glass was installed in 1959. Throughout the 1970s, the church purchased part of the lot behind the Town hall for additional parking, added bricks and mortar to the building to include the Fellowship Hall, Sunday School classrooms, and church offices, built the parsonage on Vine St., improved and enlarged the sanctuary and supported the building the courtyard benches.
In 1983, the church qualified to be added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Major renovations occurred to the building around its centennial celebration and again about ten years later. A new organ was purchased, Fellowship Hall was expanded, the large cross in the sanctuary was funded, designed and built by church members, flooring was replaced, a prayer garden and prayer pole were installed.
In 2022, Pataskala UMC celebrated 125 years of faith in our current building. A church wide celebration was held with many former pastors and members in attendance.
While these paragraphs outline the history of the bricks and mortar of our church building, the real history of our church lies in the memories of the many devoted members who, for generations have celebrated God’s love, deepened their roots of faith, and served their local community and the world for God’s glory.