Church on Hanoverton hill steeped in history, tradition

June 18, 2017 at 12:07a.m.

HANOVERTON

Take a drive through a rural stretch of Columbiana County and you might come upon a small church set on a slight hill, but not necessarily realize that it’s also steeped in rich tradition and history.

“It was established in 1817 under the name of St. Paul’s. It’s the oldest continuing congregation in the northern part of Ohio,” said Joe McKarns, referring to the origin of St. Philip Neri Catholic Church, 11328 Gavers Road, off U.S. Route 30 and a few miles north of Hanoverton.

The current church actually was built in 1846 and finished in 1849 at a cost of between $12,000 and $15,000, in time for the first Christmas Mass to be celebrated, noted McKarns, a parish council member. It replaced the original building that began in 1817 and sat in a church cemetery a few miles away.

McKarns and several others spoke recently about the history of the church, which will celebrate the parish’s 200th anniversary in July, though no date has been set. Also on the property is an original log cabin.

In the early 1800s, as part of a large westward migration, many Irish people settled in the area partly because the topography reminded them of their homeland.

In addition, jobs and land grants were plentiful, so the church grew thanks largely to an influx of Irish immigrants as well as an abundance of local bricklayers and stonemasons, noted Dr. Kelly S. Darney, adult-education director with the Columbiana County Career and Technical Center in Lisbon.

“There were brick makers everywhere at that time. And a lot of parishioners owned their own businesses,” said Darney, who also is writing a book on the church’s history from 1817 to 2017 and plans to conduct a lecture and possible book signing during the celebration.

Also helping to bring more people to the area was the Sandy and Beaver Canal, which ran more than 70 miles from Bolivar, Ohio, through Columbiana County and to the Ohio River, McKarns added.

In the late 1800s, stained-glass windows, statues and hand-painted frescos were added, and a bell tower was installed around the same time.

It took nearly 50 years between the church’s completion and the addition of those items mainly because the canal had gone bankrupt and closed, causing many people to move and resulting in the loss of skilled labor and parishioners, Darney explained.

A few years before the church’s 150th anniversary celebration in 1967, the original log cabin was moved to a spot in front of St. Philip Neri Church. About 10 years ago, a brick structure was built around the cabin to protect the delicate wood from the weather.

The cabin houses an old organ and collection baskets, a stone fireplace, a small collection of artifacts that include a hymnal, and a 200-year-old wooden bureau with glass knobs that also serves as the pulpit, Darney said.

Today, it’s used for special Masses, school field trips and other occasions, she added.

The church and log cabin may be bastions of old and original items, but they also hold lots of sentimental value and memories for people such as Dave Bernat of Hanoverton.

“My grandfather and my father and I were all married here,” recalled Bernat, a lifelong member who was baptized in St. Philip Neri Church in 1958.

Bernat, whose three children also were baptized in the church, said his father and an uncle helped move the log cabin and assisted with digging to add the basement.

Linda Beadnell, parish council secretary, recalled that her father, Paul Benson, who was an architect and welder, also helped with the basement project.

“He worked for hours and hours and then he’d go to his regular job,” said Beadnell, of Hanoverton, who joined the congregation in the 1950s.

St. Philip Neri was born in Florence, Italy, in 1515 and worked primarily in Rome. He founded an association of young men dedicated to helping those who were poor and sick, noted the Rev. Stephen Wassie, pastor.

For information about the church, visit its website, www.stphilipneo.org.