The Symmes Mission Chapel was a historic

church building A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th thro ...

in the city of Fairfield,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

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. A simple structure constructed in the 1840s, it was named a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

in the 1980s, but it is no longer standing.

History

One of the leading members of the congregation that built the Symmes Mission Chapel was Benjamin Symmes,Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1.

St. Clair Shores St. Clair Shores is a suburban city bordering Lake St. Clair in Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms a part of the Metro Detroit area, and is located about northeast of downtown Detroit. Its population was 59,715 at the 2010 ce ...

: Somerset, 1999, 105. who along with Abram Huston and John Mesler helped to found the Old School Presbyterian congregation in the late 1830s. Most of the members were drawn from Presbyterian churches in

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, Springdale, and

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, so the congregation was founded in the locality known as Symmes Corners in order to be convenient for all of the members. Shortly after the organization of the congregation, the original church building was constructed at a cost of $1,180 on land donated by Benjamin Symmes,''A History and Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio: With Illustrations and Sketches of Its Representative Men and Pioneers''.

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

: Western Biographical, 1882, 475. seemingly in 1843. It was the primary home of the eighty-member congregation for some years, but by the 1850s the majority of the members lived southward in far northern Hamilton County, so a new building was constructed near Pleasant Run, and the old building was ultimately abandoned by the congregation. However, it remained in use by others in the community until 1968, either as a church or as a school, and it had come into the possession of Fairfield's

historical society A historical society (sometimes also preservation society) is an organization dedicated to preserving, collecting, researching, and interpreting historical information or items. Originally, these societies were created as a way to help future gen ...

by 1980.

Architecture

A simple weatherboarded building, the chapel was two

stories Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

tall with a shallow

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roof. A doorway was placed in the middle of the front, with one window above and to each side, while the sides of the building, much longer than the front, were pierced with a few windows in the middle and rear. Built without a

basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...

, the building rested on a

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

, while the roof was ultimately covered with

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shingles. Inside, a stairway in the rear (near the pulpit) permitted access to the upper floor. The sanctuary was decorated with ornamental

woodwork Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials ...

, including

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designs, while much of the interior was covered with

tongue and groove Tongue and groove is a method of fitting similar objects together, edge to edge, used mainly with wood, in flooring, parquetry, panelling, and similar constructions. Tongue and groove joints allow two flat pieces to be joined strongly together t ...

panelling.Gibbs, Kenneth T.
Ohio Historic Inventory Nomination: Symmes Chapel
'.

Ohio Historical Society Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connect ...

, 1986-06. A small

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

building, it lacked other significant elements, such as traditional ecclesiastical architecture and virtually all ornamentation traditionally applied to churches.

Historic site

In 1980, the church was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, qualifying because of its historically significant architecture. Far from qualifying for grand architecture, it qualified because of its simple design: it represented what was once a common country church design, free of ornament and built for functional purposes. By that time, it was one of very few pre-

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

buildings remaining in Fairfield, which was quickly becoming more and more of an

exurb An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing density, and growth. It s ...

in the

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. Six years later, the church was recorded by personnel from Butler County's Citizens for Historic and Preservation Services as part of a

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

survey, the Ohio Historic Inventory. Noting the church's place among contemporary commercial development, the surveyor observed deterioration in both interior and exterior, and by that time the building was seemingly close to collapse. Today, the building is gone, with an empty lot occupying its place, although the historical society still owned the empty lot as of the end of 2013.Property Search Website: Parcel A0700057000010
Butler County Auditor, 2013-12-25. Accessed 2013-12-26.

References

External links

Pleasant Run Presbyterian Church
daughter of this congregation {{NRHP in Butler County, Ohio Churches completed in 1843 Buildings and structures in Butler County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Butler County, Ohio Demolished churches in Ohio Fairfield, Ohio Former Presbyterian churches in the United States Presbyterian churches in Ohio Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio U.S. Route 127 Vernacular architecture in Ohio 1843 establishments in Ohio