Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/11/02/a-genuinely-unexpected-commemorative-item/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=58064

Athena called me yesterday with a quest, which was to go to a house about a mile away and pick up a plate. I wasn’t entirely sure what the point of the quest was until I saw the plate: A commemorative plate with our church on it, from the 70s, celebrating a century of Methodist presence here in town. Along with the plate was a program for the actual Bradford United Methodist Church centennial celebration, which happened on September 10, 1972. I would have been three at the time, and also, in California, for this particular event.

I should be clear that the building we now own, the former Methodist church (which we now formally call The Old Church, and less formally, simply “the church”), does not date back to the 1870s. The program helpfully includes a history of the Methodists here in Bradford through the 1970s, and informs us that our building had its construction commence in May of 1917, and was dedicated for worship on November 24, 1918. This means that officially our building’s 107th birthday happens in about three weeks. That’s a lot of candles.

When we first got the building, I thought it had been built in the 1930s, so the building is appreciably older than I first assumed. It’s probably not the oldest building in town, but it’s close to it — there was a major fire in town in 1920 that burned down most of the existing structures. This building survived that particular calamity.

From the centennial program I also learned the construction cost of the church: $17,000, not counting the pipe organ, which cost an additional $1,700 and was installed a year after the church was opened for worship. I put this sum into some inflation calculators to see how much it would be in 2025 dollars, and the answer was between $340,000 and $365,000, depending on which inflation calculator you used. I don’t dispute that inflation gradient, but I am also reasonably sure you couldn’t build a structure like this one, at the size it is, and with the amenities it has, for that amount; it would cost at least three times that much now, if not more. We bought the church entire for $75,000. In any era, we got a very good deal on this church.

Also apparently the church at one point had ivy growing up its sides, so the illustration on the plate would suggest, although the picture in the program itself does not show any of that. It may have been artistic license. The centennial celebration, incidentally, was pretty modest: Standard services in the morning, a “carry-in dinner” at noon, and then a 2pm program of “singspiration” and special music with comments from former ministers and friends. Then a fellowship hour at 4:30, and at 7, a special concert by the Teen Ambassadors Singers, sponsored by the Bradford Area Council of Churches. Sounds like a lovely Sunday, honestly.

I’m delighted that our neighbor gifted us this plate, and this centennial program; between the both of them I feel like I have a much better idea of the building we now own and are the custodians of. Both the plate and the program will have places of honor in the church. I’m happy that we have this building, and hope to keep adding to its history here in town.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/11/02/a-genuinely-unexpected-commemorative-item/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=58064