Finding aid for the Western Reserve Christian Church (Hudson, Ohio) records

History of Western Reserve Christian Church (Hudson, Ohio)

The Western Reserve Christian Church was originally founded as the Disciples of Christ on July 16th, 1890. The Reverend F.A. Wight of Miles Avenue, Church of Christ in Cleveland, helped to organize the church and Frank Moore delivered sermons in the early years. The church had two famous guests: future President Garfield, who spoke on April 20th, 1860 (before the church was officially founded) and Carrie Nation, founder of the Women's Temperance Movement.

Initially the 42 members of the First Christian Church met at the Hudson Town Hall for two years but this space was deemed too small for the growing congregation. Funds were collected for the construction of a new church, and on 1892, a new church was built at 50 Division Street.

In 1997, members of the First Christian Church merged with the North Hill Christian Church in Akron to form the present Western Reserve Christian Church. After merging, the Western Reserve Christian Church decided to construct a new building. Construction of a new church was started in 2005 and completed in 2006 at 516 West Streetsboro Road. The old building at 50 Division was sold to Temple Beth Shalom in 2005. Western Reserve Christian Church is now known as Western Reserve Grace Church.

Scope and Content

The majority of this collection is comprised of minutes and financial records of both the First Christian Church and the Western Reserve Christian Church (1940-1997). There is also a great number of church bulletins from the years 1965-1997. The collection also contains church registers, which detail names of congregation members along with other information such as date of death, burial location, and when the individual left the church. Finally, the collection contains records relating to the relocation and construction of the new church, 2003-2008.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

The collection is open for research use.

Restrictions on Access

The collection is open for research use.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Organizations/Corporations:

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Preferred Citation

[Box number, Folder number], Western Reserve Christian Church (Hudson, Ohio) records, Hudson Library & Historical Society.

Acquisition Information

This collection was donated to the Hudson Library and Historical Society in 2002 by Judith Kelley.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Derrick Ranostaj, volunteer, 9/3/13.

Detailed Description of The Collection