Future Theatre Has Long History As A Community Center.

The nondescript brick building at 83 S. Walnut St., nestled between a former ice cream factory and burger stand and the first automobile factory in Chillicothe, is on a fast track to being the first permanent venue of the 51-year-old Chillicothe Civic Theatre group, which purchased the former Bethel Full Gospel Church in 2015.

Former St. Mark's Episcopal Mission, circa 2000.

The building itself is an enlarged and remodeled incarnation of a church that had stood on the lot for decades. The original church was a mission-style structure that in my young mind bore a striking resemblance to the famous Alamo in Texas, except this one was painted gray-blue. In the late 1990s, Bethel Full Gospel Church, established in 1963, decided to renovate the structure, at the expense of the Mission-style design, once described by the Gazette as "a handsome edifice." Of the original structure only portions of the exterior walls remain.

Former Bethel Full Gospel Church, 2019.

It has recently come to my attention, thanks to my insatiable desire to learn more about Chillicothe's history, that the church was not always a church. Regardless, 83 S. Walnut St. for most of its existence was of great significance to Chillicothe's African-American community, spiritually and secularly.

A headline in the November 7, 1946 Chillicothe Gazette & News-Advertiser, "Walnut Street Y Gives Negro Youth Supervised Program," piqued my curiosity. The article included a photo of a group of children and adults lined up in front of a brick building that I did not readily recognize. The landscape of S. Walnut St., a de facto boundary of Chillicothe's predominantly black South End, changed considerably in the 1960s, with the development of metropolitan housing, and the construction of the current post office and the Tiffin Tower apartment building. Looking at the grainy newspaper photo, the "Walnut Street Y" resembled a factory or garage that had been repurposed. The article in question didn't really give any solid details on the location of the facility.

Moreover, it had never occurred to me that Chillicothe, on the surface a "progressive" city that was on the Underground Railroad, ever had a segregated YMCA, although it shouldn't have surprised me, as it once had a segregated school, Southern School. At the time, the main local YMCA was in a large house on W. Second St., after shuffling from location to location around town.

But today, the pieces fit together, and I found out that the "Walnut Street Y" was in the very same building (in a previous life) that CCT now calls home, and that was only part of the story.

That story begins in 1897, when St. Paul's Episcopal Church, established in Chillicothe in 1817, opened "a mission church among Negro citizens," called St. Mark's Episcopal Mission. The congregation originally met in the Clinton Hotel building on W. Water St., led by lay minister Mr. Charles W. Boot. At the turn of the century, the mission launched a fundraising drive to build a church building. In 1902 it was announced by the Episcopal diocese that the congregation's funds would be matched by a $1,000 contribution from Mr. W.A. Proctor. The property at 83 S. Walnut St., just south of St. Paul's original edifice, was acquired, and on June 13, 1906, the cornerstone for St. Mark's Episcopal Mission was laid.

On Sunday, April 14, 1907, St. Mark's Episcopal Mission was dedicated and consecrated by Rt. Rev. Boyd Vincent, D.D., bishop of the southern Ohio Protestant Episcopal diocese. Contemporary accounts don't offer much description of the building itself, except to call it a "pretty little edifice...beautifully decorated with Easter lilies and greenery" for the occasion. The first pastor of the new church was Rev. William D. Brown.

It's not clear when St. Mark's Mission ceased worship activities in the Walnut St. church, but it was announced in 1938 that local Boy Scout Troop 285, sponsored by St. Paul's Episcopal Church on E. Main St., would begin meeting in the "vacant" Walnut St. mission, which they'd been cleaning for the past few weeks. The Boy Scouts, along with their counterparts, the Sea Scouts, held meetings in the former Mission until at least 1943.

In October of 1944, the USO (United Service Organizations) opened a "Negro USO lounge" at the corner of Seventh and Walnut Sts. in the area of what is now Lincoln Park apartments. The space, outfitted by the USO which also provided a small allowance for upkeep, also served as a YMCA center. It provided off-duty servicemen card and ping-pong tables, as well as hosting dances twice a week, and was used by the "Y" on Monday through Wednesday. The Gazette stated in a Nov. 1944 article that both organizations were part of the United War & Community Fund.

Original USO-YMCA Center at Walnut and Seventh Sts. (Burl Lee Grocery)

It was apparently, probably from the beginning, that the space at Seventh and Walnut was inadequate, and in June, 1945, it was announced that the USO-YMCA center would be moving to larger quarters in the former St. Mark's Episcopal Mission building on Walnut St.

On August 7, 1945, the USO presented a musical Army show, "Hank's Yanks," at the Mission, which had been redecorated inside and outside, and furnished by the USO with seating and game equipment. Two days later, a public open house was held. On August 11, 1945, the "Negro USO Center" was officially dedicated in a ceremony featuring USO, YMCA, and military officials, and Chillicothe Mayor Harold Brown. It's somewhat significant to note that during this same week, both Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been obliterated by atomic bombs, setting the stage for Japan's surrender just three days after the center's dedication.

After the war ended, the United War & Community Fund that had supported the YMCA and USO programs became the Community Chest, in some ways, if not indirectly, an ancestor of the United Way. The center in the old mission became known as the Walnut Street YMCA and continued under the direction of Mrs. Edith Trent until at least 1947. A daily Bible school was conducted each summer.

The development of the Walnut Street YMCA in the former St. Mark's was contemporaneous with that of the Carver Community Center, established in the former Covert Baking Co. building on W. Fourth St. just a block from the mission. Carver Center founder Rev. Wesley Matthews, former pastor of Quinn Chapel AME Church, was named in the 1946 article as one of the community leaders that made the Bible school at the Walnut St. facility possible.

Once again, the history trail gets a bit foggy. In July, 1949, Lorain Brown Post 126, the local African-American post of the American Legion, which had been meeting in various locations over the years, including the former Memorial Hall on W. Main St., had its first meeting in the "former USO center" on S. Walnut St. The post was commanded by Robert D. Harris, and named for a local African-American soldier who died at sea while returning from Europe in 1919.

The American Legion continued to meet in the Walnut Street mission until 1951. At the beginning of 1952, it was announced that the U.S. Naval Reserve Electronics Division, which had been meeting in the former GAR Hall (and Atwell Auto dealership) since shortly after the war, would be setting up headquarters in the former USO building, then called Moss Hall, after the building's current owner, barber and property owner Clyde E. Moss.

Moss was the Master of Chillicothe Ionic Lodge No. 6, the African-American branch of the Freemasons, who used the building for lodge meetings even after the Naval Reserves moved in. Local civic groups were also allowed to use the hall for fundraising rummage sales.

Within a few years, the Naval Reserves were scouting for other lodging, and in 1956, plans were made to build a facility on former canal lands near Eastern Ave. Due to various hitches, the plans for Eastern Ave fell through, and the USNR continued using the mission building until 1960, when it was decided to build a Naval Reserve facility onto the Skaggs Army Reserve Training Center on Rt. 50 W. (Western Ave.). Shortly thereafter, Clyde Moss offered the former Reserve center for sale, lease, or trade for residential property.

Two views of the Naval Reserve Center at St. Mark's Mission.

In the meantime, the seeds were being sown for the building's return to a spiritual purpose. On November 11, 1945, Bethel Full Gospel Church held its first services on Kendrick Ave., a street off S. Woodbridge Ave., on a hill just west of the city limits, in an area known for many years as "White Heaven." The first pastor of the church was Rev. David E. Cotton, succeeded by Rev. William B. Brooks, who also was proprietor of the settlement's only grocery store.

Life was not easy on the hill, to put it lightly. The streets were not properly paved until the 1960s, and it wasn't until the late 1970s. The area was also plagued with fires, one of which destroyed Rev. Brook's grocery in 1952. Rev. Brooks died in 1959, and his widow Lovada Brooks carried on in his stead. In the early 1960s, a shakeup in the church led to a split in the congregation, with one opening the Glorious Church Of God In Christ at the corner of Seventh and Walnut (original location of the USO Club) and the other continuing on Kendrick Ave. for a short time.

In November, 1963, the new Bethel Full Gospel Church of Christ was dedicated in the original St. Mark's Episcopal Mission after nearly a quarter century of the space being a largely secular community center. The original pastor was Rev. Charles B. Jones, with associate pastor Clyde Harris. The church was incorporated December 4, 1964. Bethel Church thrived in this location for the next 50 years. The renovations were complete by 2007, but the church itself was officially dissolved in late 2018.

Bethel Full Gospel Church, circa 2013.

Surviving portion of the original wall of St. Mark's Episcopal
Church, as it appeared in April, 2019. 

The Chillicothe Civic Theatre was founded in 1968 and for much of its existence has staged productions throughout the city. The Carlisle Building, the Majestic Theatre, Scioto Township Hall, Carver Community Center, St. Peter's School, Ross County Courthouse, OU-C Bennett Hall, and the Pump House Center For The Arts are among the venues the group has performed in.

CCT purchased the Bethel Full Gospel Church building in December, 2013, with the intent of converting it into an intimate 100-seat theatre space and permanent home for their organization. They've been actively raising funds since that time, doing what they can. In 2016, much of the interior framing was underway, and this spring, exterior improvements began in earnest.

Judging from the original drawings for the planned CCT facility, it appears that the new building will retain some of the architectural features of the original structure, particularly the walls that were left exposed in the original remodeling of the church. I hope that future generations of theatregoers will know something of the rich history behind 83 S. Walnut St. and its significance to a historic community.

Original 2014 architectural drawings showing CCT's planned 100-seat theatre building, retaining some of the features of the original St. Mark's Mission building.