OttawaHerald.com -- Community News. Community Connections.

	Franklin County, Kansas, USA

Subscriber Services Home Delivery Gift Subscription Stop-Start Delivery Missing Paper Back Issues Newsstand Locations Shopper Locations

Advertising Services Manage Your Account Place a Classified Ad Place a Display Ad Advertise Online Business Finder Directory

Other Services Submit News Laminated Items Photos & Keepsakes Article Archives Contact Us History of the Herald Our Policies

Suggest a poll topic

2009-11-20

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 12:00 PM

Photo by Courtney Servaes/The Ottawa Herald

The Richmond United Methodist Church stands on Central Avenue in Richmond. The church, which cost about $70,000, was one of the first church buildings in Kansas to be debt free upon its completion in October 1962.

Churches encompass communities

Most small towns have one.

Small and white, simple and plain. But beautiful at the same time.

Throughout history, these structures have served as the cornerstone of the community, the place where residents gather to eat soup or chili, to congratulate each other on weddings and births, anniversaries and birthdays.

Mostly, though, residents of these small Franklin County communities gathered to worship, to pray, to sing songs out of worn out hymnals.

Today, many of these faith-filled structures still stand. Some remain originals, while others have been renovated — painted, remodeled, added onto — or torn down entirely and replaced by more modern buildings.

Members of these churches still gather every Sunday morning, still pray together, still eat together, still carry on together — often in a small white church on the edge of town.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

Churches encompass communities

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.