The East Lemon United Methodist Church building is an imposing structure. When it was completed in 1871, it was said to be the largest church in Wyoming County.

It was certainly an imposing addition to the landscape of the emerging village of East Lemon, which from the 1870s into the 1930s seemed to have just about everything anyone could imagine needing-- from that church to a post office and even a baseball field.

But that ballfield which would witness many an exciting game, including one in 1887 when East Lemon's team beat a group of travelling All-Stars from Philadelphia, is no more. Shaw's general store and saw mill are gone. So is his blacksmith shop and the Good Templar's Lodge. Same, too, with the Granger's Store. The Taylor Brothers Photographic Studio which thrived around 1900 is also gone. The one-room schoolhouse closed up in 1946, was moved, and is now used as a residence. The old Grange Hall has been modified into a residence. The post office bit the dust when rural free delivery came.

Although the larger Lemon Township (which includes the village of East Lemon) appears to have more than doubled in population over the past 130 years (from 531 in 1870 to 1,189 in 2000), a closer examination of the record reveals that at the time of the Great Depression in 1930 the township's population was down to 462, almost 70 fewer than the time when the church was built. Hard times, however, appeared to be good for the church. With few resources, those remaining in the county stayed close to their church.

If the folks whose remains occupy the nearby Stark Cemetery and the East Lemon Cemetery were to rise up, they would tell you that the one firm foundation in the village has been that Methodist Church.

When the Rev. William Marion Shaw, believed to be East Lemon's only native son to go into the Methodist ministry, would return here often until the 1920s, he once told one of the ladies of the church, "every thing in East Lemon centers around the church."

Indeed. Although it was built to serve as a church, the building became something more than just that. It literally has been the center of the community. During World War II, for instance, the church's trustees voted to create a plaque (which still hangs) in honor of the 32 sons of East Lemon who were in the country's service, even though all were not members of the church. The church has hosted singing schools, traveling exhibitions, family reunions, and meetings of the Grange, the Dairymen's League, the Patriotic Order of the Sons of America, the Knights Templar and even the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Such residents today as Wilson Place, Angie Kupchunas and Ralph Walker and scores of others also remember the July 4th programs, the Christmas pageants, church picnics and ice cream socials.

This church, first known as the First Methodist Episcopal Church of East Lemon in 1871, then the East Lemon Methodist Church in 1939 and since 1968 as the East Lemon United Methodist Church, has had 49 ministers-- and survived blizzards, scores of children to go through its doors in Sunday and Vacation Bible Schools, and a 1998 tornado which ripped out its back door.

Over the years, East Lemon has had to share its minister with other churches, having been on charges with Factoryville, West Nicholson, Tunkhannock and Lemon. From time to time, the church's minister also oversaw Methodist classes in nearby Bardwell, Dixon, Shupp Hill, Strickland Hill, Union Hill and Wallace Hill.

How did it all begin?

Methodist preaching in the area, of course, has a much longer history than this building.

Records show that itinerant ministers were in the area that is now known as Wyoming County in the 1790s. Rev. Elisha Bibbins, a circuit riding minister, recorded in 1812, "we went up the Tunkhannock to Stark's Settlement, where we had a society and a preaching place."

Stark's settlement was on the eastern edge of what is known as East Lemon today, somewhere between the Stark Cemetery, off of Rt. 92, and the present village of Starkville. By having a preaching place, Bibbins is referring to someone's home or barn or maybe even field. By having a society, he is referring to a "United Methodist Society" which, according to an 1847 class book, is "A company of men having the form, and seeking the power of godliness: united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other to work out their salvation."

We have no idea how many classes were in the society that Bibbins discovered in 1812, but the one at Stark's appears to have been there at least since 1806.

William Stark Shaw, who would later donate the land and $500 toward the building of this church, was the class leader in 1851 for Stark's Class. The class book that he maintained for Stark's Class and later Shaw's Class has survived. In it, the earliest membership roster dates from 1847-8, with his uncle, Halstead Stark, as class leader, and shows 22 persons-- eight men and 14 women. That year, attendance is recorded on a once-a-month basis, perhaps when the minister was visiting. By 1851, attendance is recorded once a week.

Out of the Stark's Class would emerge two churches, one near where the Stark Cemetery in Lemon Township now stands, and this one. The Stark Methodist Episcopal Church was built in the mid-1850s, but little has survived to inform us of its life. By 1893, its congregation was absorbed by the East Lemon church.

An East Lemon Building

We do know that in 1870, many of Stark's members were amongst the 65 who made pledges for the building of the East Lemon Church "for the worship of Almighty God." Its charter actually called it the First Methodist Episcopal Church of East Lemon with "Said house of worship to be 32 feet by 50 feet on the ground, and the posts to be 20 feet high, with a suitable steeple prepared to receive a bell not to exceed 1,000 pounds weight."

When it was completed, it was actually two feet wider, six feet longer and six feet higher than the lofty specifications to which everyone had signed their name. Archie Bannatyne, who oversaw its construction, had created what was then the largest church building in Wyoming County.

On Friday, October 20, 1871, the dedicatory sermon was preached by the Rev. B. I. Ives of Auburn, N.Y., in the morning, and by Rev. Luther Peck, the presiding elder of the Methodist's Wyalusing District, in the evening. The pastor was the Rev. Joshua S. Lewis, who just a few years later would serve as a founding member of the Wyalusing District Camp-Meeting Association which built a camp-meeting ground at Dimock.

Membership

One record reveals that East Lemon started with 31 members. By 1909, it had 110 full members and three probationery members. Those were all attending just East Lemon at a time when the minister was also attending to members at the West Nicholson church as well as a class at Strickland Hill.

It is not precisely clear as to how much more the church grew or how much those who belonged to this congregation financially contributed to its upkeep, the salary of its minister and/or programming that served the needs of the church and the village of East Lemon.

Paying the Bills

The budget must have been tight from the beginning because in its first year, the trustees resolved that "singing schools should furnish their own lights."

For those of you not familiar with what a singing school was, here's a little explanation. In the era of the one-room school house, when teachers could barely cover the 3R's of Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic, persons would travel the land, and offer a nightly school maybe once every two weeks or so to attempt to instruct folks how to read music, but mostly how to sing a tune. Hymns were often used for practice. These were open to young and old alike, and while it was hoped the young would sincerely learn, the older ones often just went for the entertainment. At East Lemon, a Prof. Thayer appears to be a popular singing school teacher in the 1880s. The church's records show singing schools to be taught there through 1901, when it was mandated they pay for their own janitor, coal and oil.

In any event, the note about singing schools suggests the East Lemon church was very much a center of social and not just spiritual activity, and the community was musically enlightened as well as entertained.

To help pay the bills in 1875 folks agreed to take a penny collection at every regular service.

Apparently, collecting pennies was not paying the bills, either, however, and by 1879, this East Lemon Church sanctioned its first fund raiser, an oyster supper. They were often held more than once a year and as a revenue source seemed to exceed expectations. In 1886, when $29.50 was raised, it was recorded in the church books, "Oister supper a success, but oisters bad." These oyster suppers continued apparently until the 1920s. In the 1930s, the Ladies Aid Society was holding community-wide chicken dinners a couple of times a year, and for a time, it was holding a bazaar in November or December. A Fall Festival would return in the 1990s. What is even more amazing for the ladies hosting these big gatherings is that they did so without benefit of piped in water to the kitchen which would not come until the 1950s.

To be able to get money to make such improvements, the women also catered meals for meetings of the Dairymen's League, the Grange and the Temperance Union, and family reunions for the Millers, Balls & Shaws, Bakers & Fullers and Bagleys & Lanes. Occasionally, the church would receive a rental fee for hosting meetings of other groups and exhibits. For instance, in May 1887, a Grand Indian Exhibition was held in the basement of the church on a Thursday evening.

Amenities

From the beginning, it appears the church had its own outdoor plumbing, which others in the area also used. In 1874, the church's trustees ordered their secretary "to notify the school directors of East Lemon to build a privy for their school house as they cannot use the privy belonging to the Church any longer." (Incidentally, when the church was making preparations for its centennial in 1971, one of the things on its needed list of improvements was to "replace the missing shingles on the outhouse." Fortunately, for those of us worshipping here today, indoor plumbing would come.)

Although there have been such mundane considerations, throughout much of its life, this church has been focused on its Christian mission of service to one another in the name of Jesus Christ, and to do so reverently. But, in its first 10 years, the trustees were apparently caught up in just what reverence meant. In 1874, they debated the propriety of holding Sabbath (or Sunday) School in the Audience Room (or sanctuary). In 1881, they also resolved to strictly forbid any persons from leaving the church during services, unless highly necessary; and, they also resolved that anyone using tobacco not be allowed to use it in the church.

Worship Experience

It apears the church building was open from its beginning nearly every Sunday for a service, whether it be for Sabbath (or Sunday) School and/or worship. However, from an examination of newspaper articles as well as trustees' books in which some collections are recorded, it does not appear that there was a minister preaching an actual worship service every Sunday in the East Lemon church until 1905. Then, it appears to have been a morning service, although newspaper accounts suggest the church was open at other times on Sundays (for meetings of the Epworth League every Sunday night, for instance) as well as through the week.

In 1943, when East Lemon went from the West Nicholson Charge to the Tunkhannock Charge, one of the first casualties of that change was morning worship as the minister in Tunkhannock apparently preferred to preach to that larger congregation on Sunday mornings. He did preach at East Lemon on Sundays, either at 2:30 p.m. or at 8 p.m. When in the 1950s, East Lemon joined the Lemon church to comprise their own separate charge, morning worship at East Lemon resumed.

Troubled Waters

It appears that the East Lemon Church has served the spiritual needs of the community for at five generations. However, times were not easy. The addition of the automobile, facilitating people's ability to worship in other communities or avoiding worship altogether, and radio and television, making it possible to get preaching without even leaving home, plagued all rural churches in the last half of the 20th Century.

By the mid-1990s, there were times when East Lemon had difficulty getting a few persons to come through its doors. In 1996, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of its building dedication, the United Methodist Church's District Superintendant was on hand to participate. The service was sobering. It was announced the church would be on limited service, which is a step away from being closed down for good.

Our Own Resurrection Story

Fortunately for the church, a group of committed supporters had other ideas.

The following July, a service of resurrection was held, and an energized spirit of renewal emerged. That fall, an Autumn Festival was held to reveal that energy to the outside community. The resurgence was just in the nick of time because in the following year, a tornado would pass through the area, and even though it ripped out the back door and damaged the roof a little, God seems to have watched out for this church.

People started returning to the church, and in early May of 2000, it was announced at the annual meeting of the Wyoming Conference of the United Methodist Church that East Lemon had been restored to full service. Just a few days later, Duane Baker, one of East Lemon's most ardent members since the 1970s and credited as having more diligently worked to keep the church open than anyone else during most of his last 30 years, died. The congregation recognized his sizable contribution by naming its fall festival for him.

Welcome Back

The community is coming back to the East Lemon Church and it is a good feeling. Over these 130 years, the church has grown at times and experienced seasons of struggling. We have celebrated victory and stared the “agony of defeat” in the face. We have claimed the promises made to us in God’s Word and discovered they hold very true. We welcome you to return Sundays at 9 a.m. for worship.

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