The church at the center of Tallmadge Circle in Summit County is celebrating its bicentennial this year. But the plans for the church are even older, predating the city’s settlement.
Tallmadge was founded in 1807 by David Bacon, a Congregationalist minister who journeyed West to convert indigenous people to Christianity. He was assigned to minister a church in Hudson in 1804.
“It was his goal to create a community with a strong religious background – Congregationalist, which he was – as well as education," Tallmadge Historical Society President Christopher Grimm said.
Bacon started designing the original city with a town square, Grimm said.
“In that town square he had designated a church to be built and a facility for education," Grimm said.
Construction of the church began in 1822, and the church was dedicated on Sept. 8, 1825, with construction costing $4,000. The town square and the church have shaped the way Tallmadge has developed, Grimm said.
“Because of the town square and the whole concept that was put together prior to anybody showing up, Tallmadge is extremely unique," he said.
Today, the church is still the center of the 8-acre town square, which is encircled by a traffic circle with eight exits. Bacon also came up with that idea with the intent that every resident could be one road away from the city center, Grimm said.
"Our circle makes us very unique. When you talk about Tallmadge, you talk about Tallmadge Circle," he said. "When you think about Tallmadge Circle, you think about that church. It's been that way for 200 years."
Although the church is no longer used for weekly religious services - the congregation moved out of the building in 1969 - it's still used for weddings, community events and educational tours. Grimm likes giving tours to third grade students and explaining how buildings were built 200 years ago.
"The four pillars in the front of the church that hold up the front of the church as you look at it, those were four individual trees that they had cut down, stripped down and they put the grooves in by hand and then took those four 40 foot trees, lift them up and placed them to hold the front of the church up," he said.
Although the pillars have since been replaced, the exterior decor has been preserved, Grimm said.
The Ohio Historical Society, now known as the Ohio History Connection, took ownership of the building in 1971.
