MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The historic Middletown Community United Methodist Church, located at 15155 Armstrong St. was constructed in 1871.
Modern, for its time, it was heated back then with a wood stove.
One of the church's first ministers was Rev. W. E. Read, who hailed from Sullivan County, Missouri.
Prior to his post in Middletown, Rev. Read worked at the Mt. Zion Church in Colusa County in 1876.
According to the book, “History of Napa and Lake County,” Rev. Read traveled to Lake County in May 1881 after his house in Red Bluff was consumed by a fire there.
The book describes him as, “an earnest, eloquent preacher, a zealous, indefatigable worker, and, during the summer, made a record in his avenue of work.”
In an undated newspaper article on the Gibson Museum Web site, Rev. Read's place of residence was in the Kearsage Hotel in Middletown, of which a portion thereof was utilized as an Indian missionary school.
The Middletown Community United Methodist Church was once called the Church of the Pioneers, and also, the Middletown Methodist Episcopal Church.
When little Middletown was planned way back when, a plot of land was slated for a tiny wooden structure which the settlers found, soon enough, to be too small.
Next, a stone structure was planned and built, then dedicated on Oct. 9, 1893.
For more information about this beautiful part of Lake County's past and present, visit these Web sites:
– The United Methodist Church: http://www.middletownmethodist.org/index.htm ;
– Gibson Museum & Cultural Center: http://www.cgibsonmuseum.com/ .
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.
Lake County Time Capsule: Middletown Community United Methodist Church
- Kathleen Scavone
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