photo by: Submitted

The new Clinton Presbyterian Church was dedicated Sunday, Oct. 10, 2021. It replaces an 101-year-old church that burned after being struck by lighting in August 2019, and is the third to be built on the site.

The congregation of the Clinton Presbyterian Church enjoyed a beautiful fall afternoon as it marked a milestone in its 156-year history Sunday with the dedication a new church.

Weather hasn’t always been so kind to the congregation in the west Douglas County hamlet of Clinton. The new church building was built on the site of a 101-year-old church that burned to the ground after being struck by lightning Aug. 30, 2019, said Pam Johnston, clerk of the session for the church. That church, dedicated in 1918, was built to the same design as the one it replaced. The earlier church was built in 1895 and destroyed by a tornado in 1917.

photo by: Elvyn Jones

The Rev. Sandra Brown, of the Topeka First Presbyterian Church, makes remarks Sunday, Oct. 10, 2021, at the dedication of the new Clinton Presbyterian Church. The event drew a crowd that filled the about 100 seats in the sanctuary and overflowed to the hallway to the community room.

The loss of the historic 1918 church was devastating to the congregation, Johnston said.

“Everyone was very sad because the old church was very unique with a lot of stained-glass windows,” she said.

Nonetheless, the congregation moved on, and with insurance money, plus dollars raised through a GoFundMe account, it built a new $850,000 church that was dedicated Sunday, Johnston said. Funding of its construction overcame constraints stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the congregation to cancel its big fundraising events of a November turkey supper and breakfasts scheduled for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day, she said.

The new church is the same size as its predecessor, Johnston said. It lacks the Gothic revival design elements that gave the earlier church charm, but it does have features that make it more convenient. A large overhanging front porch provides cover to a paved driveway and front entry to the building, Johnston said.

“In the old church, the sanctuary was upstairs and the kitchen was in the basement,” she said. “In the new church, the sanctuary, kitchen, community room and a classroom are all on the ground floor. That’s nice for handicapped accessibility.”

Although dedicated Sunday, the congregation started having Sunday service in the new building on July 24, Johnston said.

“We were happy to have our own church again,” she said. “We were meeting in the township hall. There is not a lot of room in there.”

The new church is furnished with a pulpit and other items from a closed Presbyterian church in Smith Center, Johnston said. Her son and another congregation member resized pews secured from Paola for use in the new sanctuary, she said.

The Clinton Presbyterian Church, which averages attendance of 20 to 30 members for Sunday service, was founded in 1866, Johnston said. The congregation met at the Clinton Congregationalist Church until its first church was completed in 1895.