National Register Listing

Saxton United Methodist Church

a.k.a. K-5713

Jct. of Main and Church Sts., Bowers, DE

The Saxton United Methodist Church is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a good example of a Gothic-influenced structure in Central Delaware.

On January 27, 1879, the people of School House District #117 near Bowers, Delaware erected a church building committee and decided upon a site to build the Saxton Methodist Church. The building committee then made plans to build the church on a parcel of land, donated by John Saxton, chairmen of the building committee, which was located in Saxton's Grove on the west side of the Town of Bowers Beach, Delaware. By the end of 1879, the builders had completed the church and the congregation dedicated it on December 8, 1879. In the following year, church officials hired a sexton at an annual salary of $10 and equipped the building with a stove, a coal bin and a back house. The congregation received full ownership of the church in August 1885 with their final payment in a bond held by James Wyatt, trustee of the church. Eight years later the congregation voted to relocate the church closer to the center of town. Cut in half width-wise, the church was moved and reconnected on a parcel of land on the corner of Church and Main Streets owned by church members, Alexander and Elizabeth Minner. The Reverends W.L. Murray, Robert Wyatt, and S.R. Maxwell conducted the rededication service on December 5, 1893. In the next year, Alexander and Elizabeth Minner deeded the land to the church trustees and their successors for $75. By the turn of the century, the church had become a stable part of the community with a Board of Trustees that had been appointed for life. The Saxton United Methodist Church is significant for a very important reason. While it follows the basic pattern of other late 19th and early 20th century central Delaware churches, it is one of the few frame churches that has not been altered or destroyed. The Saxton Church follows the pattern favored by rural churches; almost all were framed, one-story, rectangular in plan, gable-roofed, set on piers, and plainly decorated. The Gothic style was popular as a decorative motif, but it was not usually as "extravagantly" expressed as it was at this church. The use of the board and pattern siding and the heavily carved windows is not a popular choice together but it does occur on some extant examples. However, the Saxton Church is unusual in that its internal and external appearance is the same, except for the new small chimney, as it was when the church was erected in 1879. Even the moving of the building in 1893, a common Delaware practice, did not alter the appearance of the building, just its location.

The men of the church, however, were not the only members who gave the church stability. In 1916, the female members created the Ladies Aid Society which has benefitted both the church and the community (even into the last decade).

The Ladies Aid Society met once a month and elected officers at the first meeting of every year. Most meetings began with musical entertainment from a fellow member, followed by a discussion of church business. For the Ladies Aid Society church business consisted of numerous topics from raising the church's fire insurance coverage, and donating to the pastor's retirement fund to organizing festivals, bazaars, and social events.

The next order of business was to decide how much of their profits from the festivals, etc. should be spent and what it should buy. Some examples of what the women did with their money included purchasing the town hall where they held meetings which was adjacent to the church; furnishing the parsonage; hiring painters to paint the church and install electricity; helping pay the pastors' salaries and the Methodist conference dues; and buying a stove and communion sets. On Mother's and Father's Day, the women used some of their money to buy flowers for the mothers in the church and boxes of candy for the fathers as well.

The final event of the Ladies Aid meetings consisted of a report from the sunshine committee which sent flowers and cards to sick members of both the church and the community. On March 10, 1978, the meeting closed in a special way. Each lady donated money to help the Schroon Family whose house had been destroyed by a fire that injured two of the children.

From 1916 to 1978, the Ladies Aid Society continued to meet the needs of the members of Saxton Methodist Church. Ladies comforted families whose loved ones had died, celebrated wedding anniversaries, gave bridal and baby showers, and raised money to maintain the church. The organization also maintained the town hall until 1952 when town officials built a new fire house with a community hall. As a result, the Ladies' Aid sold the hall adjacent to the church to Linwood Jackson who removed the building. The church officials built a parking lot where the old hall (it was torn down) stood, and the Ladies Aid moved their activities to the new firehouse.

Throughout their history, the Ladies Aid Society only underwent several minor changes. In 1944, the members changed the organization's name to the Women's Society of Christian Service. Later members, however, changed its name back to the Ladies Aid Society in 1975.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1990.