Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church has been targeted by a hardened criminal. According to elders, a trailer was stolen, and with it were historical antiques from a church undergoing renovations, The church, located in Burlington, Ohio, is a historical landmark. It was originally built in the 1800′s. The construction was aided by 37 former slaves known as the Burlington 37.
Unfortunately, the historic furniture that was once housed inside the church, is gone. Chuck Linthicum, a church trustee, said “I could not believe that somebody would do that.” He said After years and years of trying to get this church restored, and we’ve been through some years to try and get to the point where we are right now, and then to have that stolen away, it’s unbelievable.”
Local historian, Chris Saunders, said that the old coal-burning stoves, a piano, and a number of other antiques were among the historic pieces taken. He said that he felt “… incensed… and considering that this was a stop on the underground railroad, with at least four documented underground railroad conductors associated with it. ” He alluded to the civil war significance of the church.
He added “We have no idea whose ancestors passed through this location. This is not a church that’s important to Lawrence County or Ohio. This is a church that is important to America.” Both Linthicum and Saunders have asked for the thieves to return the furniture to the church. Daniel Mullins from Mullins Construction, the contractor working to renovate the church made a comment.
He said”… while we hate to lose a trailer and tools, the church contents are a much greater loss. We will be forced to try to re-create the pews and find replacement heating stoves that look similar for the restoration. While I am confident we can closely re-create the pews, they won’t be original and those may be lost forever.” We reported on another historic church that suffered damage.
The 151-year-old Level Baptist Church was demolished by an explosion Monday evening. Firefighters indicate that the detonation was caused by a leaking natural gas tank. Nobody was injured but the building is unsalvageable. This disaster has set Level Baptist Church back, but they intend to keep going. Authorities are still investigating the incident.
The explosion rocked the entire area. Firefighters arrived to see the building in flames with a large hole blown into the facade of the building. Carly Hunt, who lives near the Church explained what happened. She described how “I … heard a noise and the whole house shook and I literally thought that something had run into the front of my house.”
Another neighbor had this to say. “It’s kind of startling that something like that could happen and this is a historic church, I mean they’ve been here a long time. All of a sudden we heard this massive sound. It sounded like something had landed on our roof,” he added. “The house, it shook just like an earthquake like someone had set off dynamite.” one of the Church members recalls.
Leo George III, Bedford County Fire Marshal released a statement on what caused the explosion. “Early indications, we’ve had an LP gas explosion at the church. There is quite a bit of structural damage, and due to that, there is a good possibility that the church is going to collapse,” said George. LP stands for ‘liquid petroleum’ and includes gasses like butane or propane.
The Pastor of Level Baptist Church was dismayed. “These things happen so seldom, and it’s never happened to us in our history. To get the call that something of this magnitude happened, it made our hearts sad,” said Marcin Wilson. He went on to say “It’s got a rich heritage, and we thank God for it. We intend to rebuild and refocus and to continue to do what God has purposed for the church.”