Blendon Township’s Early Presbyterian Churches and Church Bell

Side A: The first Blendon Presbyterian Church was located at the intersection of Dempsey and Hempstead Roads on what is part of Blendon Central Cemetery. Timothy Lee (1785-1862) donated land at the northeast corner for a church and cemetery. The church was dedicated on December 6, 1829, but it burned that same night under suspicious circumstances. Following the fire, the congregation’s members built another edifice on “Phelps Acre,” across Hempstead Road and so named for benefactor Edward Phelps. Sr. (1759-1840). The congregation held services there from 1830 to 1865. It was believed that the church was finally abandoned and dismantled piecemeal after the Central College Presbyterian Church was finished in 1870. Side B: In 2014, the Blendon Township Trustees used ground penetrating radar to locate the Blendon Presbyterian Church on Phelps Acre. Investigators discovered the church’s foundation at a depth of four inches below grade and extending to a depth of 12-18 inches. The foundation consists of bricks, rocks and fieldstone. Three corner stones were discovered and are displayed along with bricks marking the foundation’s 40 by 32-foot perimeter. Emmett Fickell found the church’s bell when he acquired the Hart Homestead at 7328 Hempstead Road. An earlier historical marker indicated Mr. Fickell gave the bell to Maurice (Mac) and Dorothy McVay, who refurbished it before presenting it to Central College Presbyterian Church in 1981. The church loans the bell to the park, which was placed here during Blendon Township’s bicentennial year in 2015.