Bethesda Church

Description:	Drawing of the Bethesda Church by Juliet A Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect. BETHESDA CHURCH, WEST OF WEST TERRE HAUTE. DRAWING BY JULIET A. PEDDLE, TERRE HAUTE ARTIST AND ARCHITECT.BETHESDA METHODIST CHURCH is located west of West Terre Haute on Thorpe road, which is the cross road Joining U. S. 40 and Paris roads - one-mile south of the Paris road.This is one of the earlier churches of the county and is still a very active one. As so often happens in sparsely settled communities, a church organization existed some time before the people were in a position to build a building and they met in homes or other places with sufficient capacity for the congregation until they had a church. Jobez Castos home was often used for this purpose and when they were ready to build he gave an acre of land for the church and cemetery. Considerable land has been added to the cemetery since that time.The congregation gave toward the building in material and labor - felling trees, taking them to be sawed and then constructing the church from the lumber produced.First Service HeldIn 1849 the first service was held in the church. I find a note in one of the histories stating that it was not completed until 1852. This may be a discrepancy between two sources of information, but I believe that it is more probable that the church was complete enough to be used in 1849, but it was 1852 before all of the details were finished.This church is not only an early one, but has been an active one and a great many of the pioneers of Sugar Creek Township lie buried in its cemetery, which is unusually large for a church located in the country. A few years ago the congregation felt the need of a new and larger building and replaced the original frame one illustrated above with a modern brick one. This new church was dedicated September, 1937.Moved From Site.The old church was bought by the Assembly of God church on National Avenue in West Terre Haute and moved in to be added to the rear of their Church building. It seems to me that it speaks pretty well for the soundness of the work of the early builders that the church which was almost 90 years old could stand the moving and still be serviceable for use in its new location.This is not one of the most elaborate buildings built at this time, but it has been an important one in the lives of a great many people in Sugar Creek Township for a long period of years.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/833
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Churches Country life Architecture Religion

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