Greensburg Cemetery Becomes
Green's Eighth Local Landmark
PRESS RELEASE - June 22, 2011
At the June 21st meeting of The City of Green Historic Preservation Commission, the Commission voted unanimously to designate 4890 Thursby Road, North Canton, Ohio, as a local landmark. The application for local landmark designation was prepared by the Green Historical Society with the full cooperation and support of the property owners, the City of Green. Greensburg Cemetery is the eighth local landmark to be designated in the City of Green.
The Local Landmark Committee of the Green Historical Society researched the historical significance of the property and Becky Witsaman, Historian of the Green Historical Society, presented the findings to the Commissioners at the June 21st meeting. The following is a summary of the history of Greensburg Cemetery based on the research of the Green Historical Society.
Greensburg Cemetery began when Peter Thornton, one of Green’s early settlers, donated an acre of land to Adam Klinefelter, Henry Swartz, and Peter Thornton as Trustees of the Evangelical Association on November 15, 1838. This one acre may have been the burying ground for his son George , who died in 1836 at 10 years of age. A second parcel was added to the cemetery on April 1, 1874, when George Gougler transferred an additional acre of land to Trustees of Evangelical Church of Greensburgh (Greensburg). Jacob F. Boettler & Emma Boettler transferred the third parcel to Trustees of the Evangelical Association of North America on October 13, 1908. The cemetery was originally accessed via the Old Portage Road running diagonal across Green Township. However, by 1874 Thursby Road connected to Greensburg Road and provided access to the cemetery and Old Portage Road no longer ran continuously across Green Township.
Greensburg Cemetery is the final resting place of many of Green’s earliest settlers and veterans. As of 1979, seventy (70) veterans of the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish War, and World War I have been buried in Greensburg Cemetery. More veterans have been laid to rest in Greensburg Cemetery from later wars since 1979. According to Sarah Haring, Community Development Director for the City of Green, “The grave markers created for those buried within the grounds of Greensburg Cemetery provide the earliest written local history of our city. Not only does the information inscribed on the gravestones provide the simple facts of life and death, often they give insight into the cultural and architectural landscape of an earlier time and provide an invaluable resource for those researching family history.”
Greensburg Cemetery also contains the site of the first Evangelical Church in Ohio, which was also the first Evangelical Church built west of Pennsylvania. As early as 1816, Methodist and Evangelical circuit riders from Pennsylvania were following settlers west to spread the gospel in Green Township. By 1822 the Evangelical Association had a congregation holding regular meetings at the home of Conrad Dillman (today the St. John farm on Greensburg Road). The circuit riders returned word to Pennsylvania of the good land and devote settlers in Green Township and more Pennsylvanians migrated to Green Township. By 1838 the Congregation of the Evangelical Association in Greensburg built a meeting house or church at the front of Greensburg Cemetery near Thursby Road. The meetinghouse is described in The Evangelical Church in Ohio, by Roy B. Leedy, page 67 as follows,
“The site of the first Evangelical Church building was three-quarters of a mile west of the village of Greensburg. Here on the west side of the road is located a beautiful cemetery on the hillside, sloping toward the east. Between the road and the cemetery is a vacant lot where the church stood. It was a plain 28x40 “Versammlungshause” (meeting house) without Cornish and with neither tower nor bell. It faced eastward with a double door entrance in the front, a side door opening to the south, and three windows on each side.
The women entered the church from the side door and occupied the pews on the south side. They approached their pews from an aisle along the south wall of the building. The other ends of the pews were closed with a solid board petition along the middle aisle. The pews occupied by the men were fitted against the north wall so that the only entrance was from the central aisle. The men entered from the double front door and there was no intermingling of the sexes during worship services. A stove stood on each side of the room before the front pews near the side wall. There was an “amen corner” on both sides of the front part of the church – on the south for the women and on the north for the men. The rostrum was semi-circular in form; one step high with a railing used for the communion service, and the pulpit stand on a still higher platform.”
The old church building was moved from the lot in front of the cemetery to Greensburg in 1855 and was then used as a rooming house for students of the Greensburg Seminary, a coed, non-denominational school of higher education began by the Evangelical Association in Greensburg . The old church stood on the north side of Greensburg Road a little east of the square and was used as a private residence until 1945 when it was replaced by a modern dwelling. The congregation of the Greensburg United Methodist Church today traces its roots to this first Evangelical Church in Ohio built on the land of Greensburg Cemetery.
A marker stone was placed in the Greensburg Cemetery at the location of the first Evangelical Church by the Evangelical Association during their Centennial Celebration in 1929. According to The Evangelical Church in Ohio, by Roy B. Leedy, page 331, “A centennial and home-coming was sponsored August 6-11, 1929, under the faithful labors of Merle A. Hayes…. On Saturday a large congregation witnessed the unveiling of a monument erected at the site of the first Evangelical Church building in Ohio.” Today, the marker stone and the slight change in the appearance of the grass where the old church foundation was filled are the only remaining indication of the First Evangelical Church in Ohio.
“Granting this property landmark status preserves a sacred place that contains within it not only the story of Green’s founding families but establishes a place holder for the history of the Evangelical Church in Ohio and bestows enduring honor for Green’s soldiers,” stated Sarah Haring as part of the Staff Recommendation presentation at the Historic Preservation Commission meeting.
At the June 21st meeting of The City of Green Historic Preservation Commission, the Commission voted unanimously to designate 4890 Thursby Road, North Canton, Ohio, as a local landmark. The application for local landmark designation was prepared by the Green Historical Society with the full cooperation and support of the property owners, the City of Green. Greensburg Cemetery is the eighth local landmark to be designated in the City of Green.
The Local Landmark Committee of the Green Historical Society researched the historical significance of the property and Becky Witsaman, Historian of the Green Historical Society, presented the findings to the Commissioners at the June 21st meeting. The following is a summary of the history of Greensburg Cemetery based on the research of the Green Historical Society.
Greensburg Cemetery began when Peter Thornton, one of Green’s early settlers, donated an acre of land to Adam Klinefelter, Henry Swartz, and Peter Thornton as Trustees of the Evangelical Association on November 15, 1838. This one acre may have been the burying ground for his son George , who died in 1836 at 10 years of age. A second parcel was added to the cemetery on April 1, 1874, when George Gougler transferred an additional acre of land to Trustees of Evangelical Church of Greensburgh (Greensburg). Jacob F. Boettler & Emma Boettler transferred the third parcel to Trustees of the Evangelical Association of North America on October 13, 1908. The cemetery was originally accessed via the Old Portage Road running diagonal across Green Township. However, by 1874 Thursby Road connected to Greensburg Road and provided access to the cemetery and Old Portage Road no longer ran continuously across Green Township.
Greensburg Cemetery is the final resting place of many of Green’s earliest settlers and veterans. As of 1979, seventy (70) veterans of the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish War, and World War I have been buried in Greensburg Cemetery. More veterans have been laid to rest in Greensburg Cemetery from later wars since 1979. According to Sarah Haring, Community Development Director for the City of Green, “The grave markers created for those buried within the grounds of Greensburg Cemetery provide the earliest written local history of our city. Not only does the information inscribed on the gravestones provide the simple facts of life and death, often they give insight into the cultural and architectural landscape of an earlier time and provide an invaluable resource for those researching family history.”
Greensburg Cemetery also contains the site of the first Evangelical Church in Ohio, which was also the first Evangelical Church built west of Pennsylvania. As early as 1816, Methodist and Evangelical circuit riders from Pennsylvania were following settlers west to spread the gospel in Green Township. By 1822 the Evangelical Association had a congregation holding regular meetings at the home of Conrad Dillman (today the St. John farm on Greensburg Road). The circuit riders returned word to Pennsylvania of the good land and devote settlers in Green Township and more Pennsylvanians migrated to Green Township. By 1838 the Congregation of the Evangelical Association in Greensburg built a meeting house or church at the front of Greensburg Cemetery near Thursby Road. The meetinghouse is described in The Evangelical Church in Ohio, by Roy B. Leedy, page 67 as follows,
“The site of the first Evangelical Church building was three-quarters of a mile west of the village of Greensburg. Here on the west side of the road is located a beautiful cemetery on the hillside, sloping toward the east. Between the road and the cemetery is a vacant lot where the church stood. It was a plain 28x40 “Versammlungshause” (meeting house) without Cornish and with neither tower nor bell. It faced eastward with a double door entrance in the front, a side door opening to the south, and three windows on each side.
The women entered the church from the side door and occupied the pews on the south side. They approached their pews from an aisle along the south wall of the building. The other ends of the pews were closed with a solid board petition along the middle aisle. The pews occupied by the men were fitted against the north wall so that the only entrance was from the central aisle. The men entered from the double front door and there was no intermingling of the sexes during worship services. A stove stood on each side of the room before the front pews near the side wall. There was an “amen corner” on both sides of the front part of the church – on the south for the women and on the north for the men. The rostrum was semi-circular in form; one step high with a railing used for the communion service, and the pulpit stand on a still higher platform.”
The old church building was moved from the lot in front of the cemetery to Greensburg in 1855 and was then used as a rooming house for students of the Greensburg Seminary, a coed, non-denominational school of higher education began by the Evangelical Association in Greensburg . The old church stood on the north side of Greensburg Road a little east of the square and was used as a private residence until 1945 when it was replaced by a modern dwelling. The congregation of the Greensburg United Methodist Church today traces its roots to this first Evangelical Church in Ohio built on the land of Greensburg Cemetery.
A marker stone was placed in the Greensburg Cemetery at the location of the first Evangelical Church by the Evangelical Association during their Centennial Celebration in 1929. According to The Evangelical Church in Ohio, by Roy B. Leedy, page 331, “A centennial and home-coming was sponsored August 6-11, 1929, under the faithful labors of Merle A. Hayes…. On Saturday a large congregation witnessed the unveiling of a monument erected at the site of the first Evangelical Church building in Ohio.” Today, the marker stone and the slight change in the appearance of the grass where the old church foundation was filled are the only remaining indication of the First Evangelical Church in Ohio.
“Granting this property landmark status preserves a sacred place that contains within it not only the story of Green’s founding families but establishes a place holder for the history of the Evangelical Church in Ohio and bestows enduring honor for Green’s soldiers,” stated Sarah Haring as part of the Staff Recommendation presentation at the Historic Preservation Commission meeting.
Local Landmark Designation Presentation for Historic Preservation Commission Meeting June 20, 2011:
Local Landmark Designation Application:
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