Sacred landmarks being inventoried

Youngstown's oldest church made a statewide preservation group's Top 10 list of endangered sites.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR RELIGION EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- Sacred landmarks in Mahoning County -- think worship sites -- are being inventoried with an eye toward preservation.
It's the secular world meeting the sacred to help save the sacred.
Youngstown State University's Center for Urban Studies has created a list of more than 350 sites of various faiths in Mahoning County. The Sacred Landmarks Partnership involves YSU, Kent State University, Cleveland State University and the University of Akron, which are doing similar inventories.
The local compilation comes as the oldest church in the city, the former Welsh Congregational Church at 220 Elm St., was placed on the Ohio Preservation Alliance's 10 most-endangered historic sites for 2001-02. It was the only church on the list and the only building in this area.
The OPA is a private, nonprofit corporation based in Galion, Ohio, that is dedicated to historic preservation.
History: The church was built in 1861 in the Greek Revival style. It was altered in 1887, when it was enlarged and a Queen Anne-style steeple was added. The church was purchased in 1975 and renamed "Messiah Holiness Church."
Some repairs were made after a 1997 fire, including $15,000 in roof work. Since then, little more has been done and the church remains boarded up. Groups attempting to finance the restoration couldn't get a guarantee the building would be preserved.
The church was placed on the list because of its significance as the oldest standing church in an important Ohio community and its very uncertain future, according to the OPA.
Thomas Palmer, the OPA's executive director, said its list is designed to draw attention and help to such buildings.
Under the Sacred Landmarks program, "Our main mission is to be a clearinghouse for all kinds of religious information," said Norma J. Stefanik, a research associate-urban designer at the center.
"Many of these sacred landmarks are urban, especially in Mahoning County, since [Youngstown] takes up so much of the county, and there aren't as many people in the city now as when many of these buildings were built," said Stefanik.
"Therefore, there aren't as many people to take care of them and not as much money to take care of them. To make a long story short, many are in danger."
The story is similar for many sacred landmarks: congregations sell out to smaller groups with fewer members and smaller budgets that can't pay for major upkeep.
Stefanik said some other local sacred buildings are getting close to a state of disrepair. If buildings can't be saved, the sacred places may only be preserved through photos, records and oral histories of people who worshipped there.
In addition to the list of sacred places, the center is creating an inventory of the stained-glass windows in worship sites, and of the social service and economic development programs at each congregation. Those will be made available as reference works.
Preservation: The program is also compiling records on the local sites for the Ohio Historic Inventory. Talks are under way to extend the program into Columbiana and Trumbull counties. And, for good measure, some records of local congregations that were compiled in an earlier project are being placed the Web site at YSU's Maag Library.Visit: http://www.maag.ysu.edu/sacred/sacred.html.
The center plans to document about 50 sacred landmarks with photos and other records, which may become the basis for a book. One book has been published about the sacred sites in Cleveland.
Why are people interested in sacred places?
"People have an affinity for them," Stefanik said. "They are a different building type than most other building types, and they have been around for a long time, just the building type, let alone the individual buildings."
The buildings are important beyond their congregations.
"We think they're pretty important to the fabric of everyday life as well," Stefanik said. "When you're driving down the street and you see this landmark and it's not there one day, there's a hole in the visual background as well as your life. Something's gone. It's a little like the World Trade Center. It's something that you're used to, and it's not there anymore. It makes an impact on your life."
Stefanik believes the project increases awareness of the dimension sacred landmarks have in the community.
"We're trying to encourage people to think about what if they don't maintain this church or this synagogue or temple or meetinghouse," she said.
"There are too many examples of that happening. And to treasure these before they are gone and can't be replicated or rebuilt at today's costs."
XFor more information, contact Norma J. Stefanik at (330) 742-3493 or njstefanick@cc.ysu.edu.