Anniversary celebration at Schuyler church set
By Donna Thompson GateHouse New York
WEST SCHUYLER — A growing church and community and a near accident were among the factors that led the congregation of the West Schuyler United Methodist Church to enlarge and renovate its sanctuary in the late 1980s.
At 11 a.m. Sunday, the congregation will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the completion of that project during the worship service. A potluck meal and fellowship gathering will follow.
"We're going to consecrate the church and altar for the saints who provided it for us," said Pastor Susan Holland.
The front of the original church sanctuary ended where the altar area now begins, according to A. Eugene Snyder, a church member who has served in numerous roles and is helping organize Sunday's event.
In addition to the need for more space, there were other practical and safety issues to be addressed. The choir loft was on an upper level at the rear of the sanctuary and was used only on holidays and special occasions.
"On Easter, we'd blow the dust off everything," said Nancy Lange, one of the committee members.
Stairs to the church's lower level were reached via a door at the rear of the sanctuary.
"One day we almost lost somebody down the staircase," said Snyder. Members of the congregation agreed, "We have to fix this."
Harold Brown left money to the church to get the project started and other donations were given. Services were held at the VFW while the work was underway.
Photographs show the cross that is now in a small chapel room in the church hanging above the altar area in the old sanctuary, church Historian Ramona Kane pointed out. The pews that originally came from the Christian Science Church on Genesee Street in Utica — now the Oneida County History Center — have been replaced with padded chairs since the renovation work was completed, and some of those pews are now in the chapel as well. The chairs on the altar area remain the same.
The congregation waited until November 1989 to celebrate the completed renovation of the sanctuary.
"They wanted to make sure it was paid for," Kane said.
Church member and retired pastor Rev. Robert Lindsay made the cross for the new sanctuary and his daughter, Sharon, made the banners, said Marlene Malaglowicz.
The sanctuary renovation was not the only change the church building, originally called the Embury Methodist Episcopal Church of Schuyler Corners, has undergone.
The church originally was on state Route 5, but was moved in October 1969 to its current location at the corner of Woods Lane and Cosby Manor Road. A lower level was added at that time to house Sunday school rooms, a dining room and a kitchen.