Open house set for new Catherine Creek Community Center

Original Article at The Observer

Open house set for new Catherine Creek Community Center | Local News | lagrandeobserver.com

UNION — Sounds that could pass for echoes of the past, elegant architectural features of yesteryear and hidden history.

The old Methodist Church building complex in Union has all this plus something it did not appear to have until two months ago — a promising future.

The former Union United Methodist Church building complex, now named the Catherine Creek Community Center, no longer is in peril after a new local nonprofit, the Friends of the Historic Union Community Hall, purchased it from the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. The nonprofit raised $25,000 to make the purchase, which was finalized Feb. 24.https://18079e1a5ba75516220b8ef8b9ee61f5.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The magnitude of what has transpired remains hard for people such as Cherie Kausler, a member of the Historic Union Community Hall Board, to grasp.

“I still cannot believe it,” Kausler said.

The complex has a new place in the Union community, one that guests can discover Saturday, April 24, during an open house from 4-8 p.m.

Those attending will learn of how the Catherine Creek Community Center’s old Methodist Church building is now a chapel available to all denominations for religious services, weddings, funerals and more. The building, constructed in 1905, served as a Union Methodist Church until 2019 when it closed because of declining membership. The Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church assumed ownership of the building plus its fellowship hall and parsonage building.

LaVon Hall said she and others feared the worst if the Friends of the Historic Union Community Hall had not purchased the building complex.

“We were worried that if someone else bought it, it might be be made into a bed-and-breakfast or torn down so that the bricks (of the old church building) could be sold,” said Hall, a member of the Historic Union Community Hall Board.

This would have been tragic in Hall’s eyes because the building complex is such an integral part of Union’s history. It has been the site of milestone moments for community members, including weddings, baptisms, celebrations of anniversaries and birthdays, plus Sunday school sessions and plenty of youth gatherings.

Buy NowThe pews and the pulpit of the former Union United Methodist Church Saturday, April 17, 2021, await future ceremonies in the chapel of what is now the Catherine Creek Community Center. A local nonprofit raised funds to buy the property and save it from possible destruction.Alex Wittwer/The Observer

Had the complex been torn down, the old church’s bell, which can easily be rung in its tower by pulling a second-floor rope that comes through a ceiling, would have been lost.https://18079e1a5ba75516220b8ef8b9ee61f5.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.htmlGet our Daily Headlines newsletter

“A lot of people want to know if the bell still rings. They tell stories of sneaking up and ringing it,” Hall said.

The old church’s interior wooden architecture and dozens of stained glass windows also could have been destroyed. The stained glass windows include several behind the altar area that have not been seen in six decades. The windows have been hidden since 1954 when the fellowship hall, which is connected to the back of the altar, was built, Hall said.

The fellowship hall, as part of the Catherine Creek Community Center, will be available to rent for events such as wedding receptions, baby showers and other celebrations. The fellowship hall also will be a site for Union County Food Bank distribution and other community activities.

The parsonage, a one-story home built around 1930, is serving as a rental. Hall said income from the rental, which is being leased six months at a time, will help pay off a loan the nonprofit took to raise a portion of the $25,000 to purchase the complex.

The Friends of the Historic Union Community Hall was created as a nonprofit in February 2020 and was able to raise the $25,000 for the purchase of the buildings in a year. Hall said the nonprofit’s fundraising was boosted by help from an anonymous donor.

“That put us over the top,” Hall said.

She said the effort to save the property “is an example of a community working together.”

Hall and Kausler are among the six members of the Historic Union Community Hall Board. The others are board president Terra Richter, Geneva Williams, Lori Baird and Union County Commissioner Donna Beverage.https://18079e1a5ba75516220b8ef8b9ee61f5.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The board’s fundraising work is not over. The organization needs money for the upkeep of the Catherine Creek Community Center and to pay off the loan.

Fundraising activities on tap for the Friends of the Historic Union Community Hall include a raffle at the April 24 open house. Raffle prizes include an electric guitar, a cord of wood, a $100 Union Market gift certificate and two paintings.

The success the Friends of the Historic Union Community Hall has experienced in saving the old Methodist Church complex is a credit, Hall said, to more than generous community support.

“We had to have divine intervention for so many things to fall into place,” Hall said.