Churches of Tyrone
This article was written by Suzanne Sickler Ohl, an early member of the Tyrone Area Historical Society. It was originally published in May 1993.
Since this article is being written during the Easter season, it is appropriate that we reflect on the early history of the churches in Tyrone, Pennsylvania. Our focus will be on the churches established prior to 1950.
Saying that the religious life of the residents played an important role in the development of Tyrone is an understatement of its importance. The true story of the church was written in the hearts of the hundreds of people who found in the church a source of strength for living as well as a model for the way they lived among their neighbors. Religion continues to be very important to Tyroners as they go into the 21st century.
In the beginning, religious services were held in homes, in schoolhouses, or wherever a congregation could be gathered. Ministers, priests, and lay persons would travel from other communities to bring the gospel and sacraments to the people. It is believed that the first sermon in Tyrone was preached by a black traveling minister early in the fall of 1851. The service was held in the home of William Andrews, a butcher, who lived on Logan Street. Later in 1851 a Methodist prayer meeting was held in the home of William Burley.
Historical records list the Tyrone Church of the United Brethren in Christ as being the first of the Protestant churches in Tyrone. Its building was erected in 1855 on the southeast corner of Allegheny and Spring streets (now 12th Street and Washington Avenue). For many years the congregation had to struggle to keep going. By 1858 financial difficulties made it necessary to sell their church building but they were able to repurchase it in 1863.
In 1887 a small brick church building was erected on Main and Dallas streets (now Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street). It stood where the Educational Building now stands. Instead of pews it was equipped with theater seats. In 1913 a new church was built to accommodate the large increase in membership. In 1928 the present Educational Building was dedicated. In 1968 the church became known as the Christ United Methodist Church.
In 1852 the Methodist Society was formed in Tyrone. By 1855 they had grown large enough to build their first church on the southeast corner of Allegheny and Spring streets (now 12th Street and Washington Avenue), just across from the United Brethren Church. It was a two-story brick building, the upper story first being used as a public school. It served the needs of the congregation until 1885 when the church was built at the southwest corner of 12th Street and Logan Avenue. In the fall of 1927 the stone Church School building (diagonally across the street) was dedicated. In time that building was completed and the church moved to that site. On March 8, 1964 consecration services were held for the newest of their churches, now known as the Wesley United Methodist Church.
As the population of East Tyrone grew so did the Methodist Church there. First established in 1871 as a chapel at the corner of Curtin and First Streets (now Columbia Avenue and 21st Street), the need for a larger building became evident [to the congregation]. A new site was purchased at the corner of Columbia Avenue and 18th Street and the Columbia Avenue Methodist Church was completed in 1893. During World War I a Sunday School addition was built. After a serious fire in 1963 it finally was decided to build on a new site. This became known as The Good Shepard Church on Clay Avenue, dedicated in 1972.
St. Matthew Roman Catholic Church’s congregation was founded in 1851 and served by priests from Newry and Altoona. Masses were said at the homes of some members. The first church was built in 1853 on Spring and Ridge streets (now Washington Avenue and 11th Street). In 1880 ground was bought on Cameron Avenue between 11th and 12th streets. A school and convent were built there in 1885 but the cornerstone of the church wasn’t laid until 1895 with dedication taking place in 1896. A new social hall, Harkins Hall, was added to the complex in 1961.
The first building to house the First Presbyterian Church was built in 1857 on Logan Avenue north of 13th Street.  Before that, the congregation met for several months in the original United Brethren Church and the old school house above the Methodist Church on Spring Street (now Washington Avenue). In 1883 the first church building was replaced by a brick church on the northwest corner of Logan Avenue and 13th Street. The third and present church was built in 1927 on the same site. While construction was taking place church services were held in the Wilson Theater. The church was the largest church auditorium in town.
The Presbyterians established a Chapel Sunday School on Columbia Avenue around 1900 which continued until the 1950s. It was purchased by the Baptists in 1952.
Previously worshipping in the school house on Brewery Hill, the congregation of the Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church raised money in 1863 to build their own church. This they did in 1865, putting up a wooden structure on Logan Avenue just above 13th Street. Services were held in German and English. The congregation never was large. Eventually in 1917 the church was sold and remodeled for a dwelling.
Some members withdrew from the German Church in 1872 to form the First English Lutheran Church. They met first in the Adams School and then in the United Brethren Church and in buildings on Main Street. Finally in 1891 they built a brick church on the site of the present YMCA. In 1904 they built their present church on the southeast corner of Logan Avenue and 13th Street. Further building renovations have taken place since then.
A Baptist congregation was established in 1870. In 1872 a frame building was erected on the east side of Logan Avenue just above the Logan School. This building was twice remodeled and enlarged. In 1952 the Tyrone Area Joint School District purchased the ground and building to obtain adequate ground for the building of the new Logan School.
About the same time, 1952, the Baptists purchased the Presbyterian Chapel building on Columbia Avenue between 15th and 16th streets. Since then the building has undergone much improvement and renovation, including the addition of a new wing in 1975. This now is known as Grace Baptist Church.
In 1891 a congregation of the Church of the Brethren was formed. It then was called the German Baptist or Dunkard Church. In 1895 a brick building, located on the northwest corner of Adams Avenue and 18th Street was dedicated. In 1957 a large addition was built on the 18th Street side of the church.
Trinity Episcopal Church (its congregation was organized in 1885) was built in 1894 on the east side of Washington Avenue near 9th Street. Wilson Parish Hall was added in 1920. An altar of white marble was donated in 1930. The church and parish hall were badly damaged in the 1936 flood, requiring a complete renovation.
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church came into being in 1888. In July 1986 a church was dedicated on the south side of 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Logan avenues. The congregation, never large, eventually diminished to the point that church services ceased. Recently some use is being made of the church for religious purposes.
The Free Methodist Church began as a missionary project in 1912. The church is located on the northwest corner of Columbia Avenue and 17th Street. The Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, originally located on east 10th Street, was relocated in 1970 to Adams Avenue between 21st and 22nd streets. The First Assembly of God, located on the corner of 12th Street and Blair Avenue, came into existence in the 1930s.
Other church congregations in the Tyrone area include the Tyrone Mission Church on Park Avenue, the Grace Bible Church on Washington Avenue, the Bible Baptist Church on Hamilton Avenue, and the Northwood Baptist Chapel. The Salvation Army on west 10th Street also provides religious services.
This article was written using the best information available in the Historical Society files [as of May 1993].