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Main street holds walking tour of historic churches
Another round of tours scheduled for this weekend
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
WASHINGTON — Community members toured a handful of churches around Washington last weekend, and have the chance to do so again this weekend.
The walking tour was run by Main Street Washington, where Executive Director Samantha Meyer said the organization hoped to help raise awareness of the town’s historical landmarks.
Main Street held a walking tour last year as well, featuring a handful of second-story apartments and established landmarks. Meyer said she hoped to make the events an annual affair.
“Historic preservation is one of the pillars of Main Street in general,” she said. “This was our way of bringing attention to the historic buildings and preservation of our downtown.”
The walking group visited United Presbyterian, Marion Avenue Baptist, Grace Community and United Methodist churches in town, and walked through the old YMCA building recently acquired by CITYPOINT Church for offices, ministries, and events, but not as a place of worship.
Many of the buildings have intricately connected histories.
“The UP Church used to be at Marion Avenue’s location, and then they built their new church,” Meyer said. “And then you go to Grace Community and then the Methodist Church, and you learn that the Methodist Church used to be at Grace Community … there was a lot of history with the buildings and the architecture.”
Meyer said the event was fairly popular. She added that she was thankful for the cooperation of local churches in the Sunday breakthroughs, on their Biblically assigned busy day of the week.
“Most people go to their church, and they only go to their church, so it was kind of cool, some were just curious to see what other churches looked like,” she said. “This was an opportunity for them to see that, and get to see parts of buildings you don’t usually get to go into.”
Main Street will hold a second round of the roughly three-hour walking tour, starting at 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13. Groups are limited to about 20 people each, and tickets cost $15, either at the door of UP Church on Sunday or purchased ahead of time through links on Main Street’s website or Facebook page.
The tour comes with an informational booklet, and refreshments along the way.
Meyer said money from the tours would go to Main Street Washington’s design committee and downtown decoration funds.
Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com
