WILMINGTON — A hero of the War of 1812 led the effort to build Wilmington United Methodist Church.

"According to all historical accounts, Reuben Sanford built it chiefly at his own expense and labor," said Karen Peters, historian for Whiteface Community United Methodist Church, which worships in that very building. "The bricks came from a factory on the banks of the Ausable River."

At some three layers thick, those bricks number about 97,824, making up the walls of a church building that has stood now for 175 years.

Its story, however, is more in its people than its construction, chronicled in celebration of the anniversary in a soon-to-be-released 32-page book of text and photos, "175 years of the Whiteface Community United Methodist Church."

SHARED HISTORY
The new history not only continues where a 150th-anniversary book left off, but incorporates the story of the Jay United Methodist Church.

In 1971, that church merged with Wilmington Methodist to become Whiteface Community United Methodist Church, but the two shared a relationship right from the start.

"The common history goes back to 1816 when the first circuit riders came through," Peters said, referring to the traveling ministers who served multiple communities on a specific route. "Jay and Wilmington did camp meetings together, conferences. They always had the same minister since the 1860s."

The first Jay church was built on land purchased from Elihu Bartlett and his wife, Salinda.

That wood-frame house of God was constructed next to a large rock in Jay, upon which disgruntled church member Mr. Hall built his own church after being reprimanded for acquiring the habit of too much drink, according to a history published to mark the Jay church's 100th anniversary.

"In summer, he would sit in his church with the windows open and listen to services in the big church," chuckled Peters.

The wooden church served Methodists in Jay until 1838, when a new brick building was erected.

"Horse sheds were added in 1878," Peters said. In 1937, they were sold, as automobiles replaced horses."

CONTRIBUTIONS
BY WOMEN

A committee of eight led by Peters put together the book, conducting research and interviews, collecting photos and anecdotes, and using both previous anniversary histories.

"A lot of people contributed to this book," Peters said. "The United Methodist Women, Sandra Bowen did her part on the Riverside Thrift Shop, Sunday School teachers wrote about Sunday School for us "¦"

Former church member Don Peterson participated from Michigan, both serving on the committee from a distance and writing four pages of the book.

"He was able to fill in a lot of blank spaces from 1957 forward," Peters said.

A one-time choir director, Peterson writes of some church struggles, for example dissension over how expenses were divided between the churches in Wilmington and Jay and, later, how the joined congregations voted over which church building to close.

Spotlighted in the book is Carroll Coolidge, who in the late 1960s, early '80s carved the oak front doors for the Wilmington church, the butternut altar rail.

"He did the altar table and the reredos that stands behind the altar," Peters said.

Women are recognized for their contributions through such organizations as the Women's Home Missionary Society, Women's Foreign Missionary Society and Ladies' Aid Society.

In 1920, the United Methodist Church gave women the right to preach locally but without ordination, Peters said. They received full clergy rights in 1956.

Whiteface Community welcomed its first female pastor in 1988 — the Rev. Janice Palm and others during her tenure started AuSable Valley Habitat for Humanity, which one year won the Jimmy Carter Prize for the most homes constructed on a per capita basis in the nation.

The Rev. Linda McIntire served from 1993 to 2002, the Rev. Martha Connor from 2002 to 2007, and current pastor is the Rev. Joyce Bryson.

"Now women can be anything within the church," noted Peters.

INSIDE OUT
Under McIntire's leadership, the church acquired property next door, which included the barn that is now its Riverside Thrift Shop.

"It grew out of a lot of volunteer time and community effort," Peters said. "It's a really big deal in the community to this day."

At the same time, Peters said, Whiteface Community was offered another adjoining property and thus created the church office and ecumenical food pantry in what became the Reuben Sanford Building, in honor of the man who not only fended off the British at the Battle of Plattsburgh by cutting the stringers of the bridge under siege but in Wilmington built the church, the first store, a forge, sawmill and Sanford ironworks and served in such positions as postmaster and in both state Senate and Assembly.

His early industry has been mirrored by Whiteface Community in later years.

In the early '60s, the Jay and Wilmington churches experienced a difficult period when pastors stayed just short-term or there was none in residence at all. Then, said Peters, the Rev. Mark Chatterton took the helm, applauding the congregation for its self-proclaimed description as survivors but telling them they had to do more.

"That's when, as the Rev. Connor said, it started turning itself inside out," Peters said. "Each pastor started adding more and more until we now have the Thrift Shop, the senior nutrition site, the food bank.

"The interesting thing is the church is growing because of that — the theory is you turn yourself inside out and you will grow."

E-mail Suzanne Moore at: smoore@pressrepublican.com