In the early 1800s, numerous settlements began along the Tuscarawas River in the southern part of the former Connecticut Western Reserve. As settlers began purchasing acreage for farms, the tree-covered land was cleared and small communities began to form. Schools and churches were quickly established to support the educational and spiritual needs of the people, with churches serving a particularly important role as both sacred houses of worship and town gathering places. The Barberton area was no exception, experiencing a veritable church boom that provided the city with a rich legacy of historic churches.
Some of the first churches in the area were Methodist Societies, the earliest dating back to 1816 in Norton Township. Several Methodist congregations also came together in New Portage and Johnson’s Corners in the mid-nineteenth century, including High St. Methodist Church, presently St. Paul’s. Around the time of Barberton’s founding, United Brethren, which eventually became Moore Memorial, and First Methodist joined the list of Methodist congregations in the area. In 1892, St. Augustine’s first building was constructed at the corner of Seventh St. and Lake Ave., finally providing Barberton Catholics with their own place of worship.
In the years following the city’s founding, many more congregations were established. The First Lutheran Church, originally known as St. Mark’s, was organized in 1892. Several more Protestant churches were founded in the city in the early 1900s, including the Congregational Church on Wooster Rd. W. In 1902, the church received land donated by Columbia Chemical Company for a new building and became known as Columbia Congregational Church and later Columbia United Church of Christ. The church boom in Barberton continued as the city grew, and in 1902 the first Presbyterian congregation began meeting at the Barberton Inn. The Presbyterian Church eventually merged with the Barberton Reformed Church established in 1892 and was known as the Federated Church until 1939. The congregation of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church also began meeting in 1902, with more than 100 members by the time their new church building was dedicated in 1914. Though the first attempt to organize a Baptist church in the city had failed in 1895, the church was reorganized a decade later and began meeting in the old St. Augustine building that had been moved to the corner of Sixth St. and Hopocan Ave. The present First Baptist building was constructed in the 1930s after a fire destroyed the previous building. In the early 1900s, Barberton’s growing population also included a large number of immigrants who soon established churches in both the traditions and languages of their home countries. The city’s Catholic and Lutheran Slovaks, Polish, Hungarian, Slovenian, Serbian and Eastern Slavic populations founded SS Cyril and Methodius, St. Matthew Slovak Lutheran, St. Mary’s, Holy Trinity, Sacred Heart, Serbian Nazarene and St. Nicholas respectively. In recent years, St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart merged to form Prince of Peace, while sadly Holy Trinity recently closed and SS Cyril and Methodius is slated for closure in coming months.
Over the years, Barberton has been home to nearly 100 congregations with more than 40 still in operation today. The churches mentioned here are a mere sampling of the city’s many historic places of worship.
View images of Historic Barberton Churches at SummitMemory.org