Founded by fourteen men and women, the Christian Church of Parma and Greece has been a beacon of faith and service since 1834. On Sunday, August 24 the congregation will celebrate the occasion of their 180th anniversary at the church, 1211 Manitou Road, Hilton.
•10 a.m. – Worship Service and Olde Tyme Hymns – period dress is encouraged.
Sunday School Sewing Demonstration – make a bonnet and kerchief.
•11:15 a.m. – Annual Picnic at the Hooper’s Cobblestone Homestead, 221 Peck Road, Hilton.
19th century menu: roasted chicken, bean soup, corn casserole, peach cobbler.
19th century games for the children.
Children make their own popcorn balls.
The church’s history was documented extensively in an August 1934 issue of The Hilton Record, one of the newspapers now a part of Westside News Inc.
The first settlement in the section of the town of Parma where the Christian Church stands today was made by the family of Issac Chase, Jr., who gave a section of his land as a site for the church and assisted in the erection of the original cobblestone edicice.
It was the year 1825 that Captain and Mrs. Isaac Chase, Sr., Isaac Chase Jr., and his wife and another son, James Chase, having heard tales of the Eldorado situated near the month of the Genesee River, migrated from Saratoga County to try their fortunes in this new, wild country. The Erie Canal was opened for navigation in October, 1825, and the Chase family history relates that they made their journey from Albany via “Clinton’s big ditch” in the same year. It must follow, therefore, that the Chases were among the first families to wend their way westward over the new waterway.
When their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren gather this month in the little church, built on the same foundation which their forefathers created a century ago, they may well rejoice in the heritage that is theirs.
The little red schoolhouse, which was the birthplace of Christ’s Church of Parma and Greece a century ago, is still in existence and, considering its age, is comparatively in a good state of preservation, according to Rev. Wm. McClure, pastor, who has been delving into the history of his congregation. The schoolhouse, a small wooden structure, now used as a garage by the present owner, Geo. Anderson, stands on the farm in the Burritt Road formerly owned by Dennison Taber.
“At a meeting of the brethren and sisters friendly to liberal Christianity convened at the schoolhouse in school district number 7 Parma, Elder Joel Doubleday and Elder Wm Blake of Clarkson were present. After each person present had expressed their feelings and Christian experience, the following persons agreed to walk together in the bonds of Christian love and union, talking the scriptures of truth for their only rule of faith and practice and we pray that God be with us. Parma, Aug. 23rd, 1834. Names of members: James B. Deyo, Peter L. Olmstead, Samuel Deyo, Betsy Ann Wisner, Peter Wisner, Elizabeth Chase, James Chase, Robey Hicks, Isaac Chase Jr., Lucy Chase, Joseph Hooper, Mary Deyo, Ruth Deyo, Sarah Hubbard.
The public is invited to participate.
