Overview

Smithville Mennonite Church is located just east of the town of Smithville, Ohio on Rt. 585. It was designed by Paul Kauffman (a member of S.M.C) and built by Boegli & Kauffman builders.

It is of Contemporary design with an auditorium seating approximately 250 and a balcony seating of 100 plus. It has a large social room, kitchen, serving room, children’s and adult libraries, Pastors office, Secretary office, nursery rooms, and S.S. rooms.

Additional rooms were built on the back of the building in 1979. Oswald Builders were the contractors. The exterior walls and ceiling are made of red cedar decking imported from North West Canada, which was shipped by rail to Smithville. The decking is double tongue and grove. The 4” x 6” planks of various lengths spiked together with 7” spikes constitute the entire walls and ceilings. The exterior was stained and the interior sanded and varnished. In recent years the outside walls and windows have been covered with vinyl siding. The building is all air conditioned and is handicap accessible.

Ground breaking took place on June 8, 1958. The cornerstone was laid on December 14, 1958. The church was dedicated on March 22, 1959 and the first wedding was that of Elvin Mast and Lucille Falb on February 27, 1959. The first pastor was Gerald Studer.

In 1983 the church celebrated its 25th anniversary. There have been nine pastors, Gerald Studer, David Eshleman, Carl Rudy, Herman Myers, Interim David Groh, Glen Steiner, Richard Ross, Interim Eldon King and Burt Parks. On October 3, 1999 the celebration of 40 years took place with all the pastors and spouses present.

An exciting new chapter has begun for the family of Smithville Mennonite as we have seen the installation of our new pastor Todd Martin and his wife Rebecca Martin. We are also in the midst of a church building re-facing project.