HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS                                           DIAGONAL ROAD CHURCH         The beginnings of the first church, on Wadsworth Road, go back to 1851 with the arrival of the four families of Mennonites from the Montgomery-Berks County area of Pennsylvania, and the family of Rev. Ephraim Hunsberger who came a year later in 1852.            Rev. Hunsberger immediately began to organize a church.  Ground was purchased one fourth mile out on Wadsworth Road (Diagonal Rd.) from Rt. 97 where the little cemetery still remains.            Construction began in the spring of 1853 to erect a simple frame building 32 X 42 feet.  Facing the east, the church was built with the usual plan of Mennonite churches, with two front entrances, one for men and one for women, entering into their respective anterooms. From these, doors led into the main sanctuary.  The altar platform was raised about a foot along the west end, with the elderly people sitting on the Absatz (platform) at right angles to the audience, the men on the north and the women on the south.  A partition as high as the benches divided the men and women on the main floor.  Pulpit furniture was plain, painted white, and composed of a few chairs and a reading desk.  Two stoves provided heat in winter.  The church had four windows on each side, a picket fence enclosure, and a number of young trees across the front.            The church was dedicated, debt free (with the help of Pennsylvania brethren), on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 8-9, 1853.  Guests from Pennsylvania were Rev. Christian Clemmer, Rev William Shelly and Jacob Meschtner.  Local churches were represented by Rev. Klein of the Lutheran and Rev. Ham of the Reformed Church.  Henry Nice was ordained as assistant minister and Jonas Nice as deacon.  A catechism class of twelve was baptized, who, with the five known couples (10 charter members), comprised the early church membership.              The church prospered under the progressive leadership of Rev. Hunsberger, who held services (in German) every other Sunday; instututed the Sunday School (1854); influenced church unity and effective denominational fellowship; signed the articles of constitution for the General Conference Mennonite Church; and instituted plans for the first Mennonite college in America.  With the close of that college in 1878, the loss of students, professors and their families caused a decline  in spiritual stimulation and cultural activity .By 1890 contact with sister churches was less frequent; Sunday School disbanded.  Unable to cope with changing conditions and the demands of many members who now lived closer to town, adopting new habits and practices of their neighbors, and desiring English services and new innovations, the congregation decided to move the church to the center of town.            The old church was used by Rev. Hunsberger in officiating at funerals of many friends laid to rest in the  cemetery, and on special occasions, until 1890, when it was decided to dismantle the building.  The $40. from the sale of the lumber was used for cemetery maintainence. (Some lumber was used to build a porch on a S. Main Street residence).             The old pulpit, built by John Heckman between 1875-1880 for this church was offered by the College Street Church, in 1902, to any new congregation desiring it, since they had a new one built by Nelson Hard (in our possession).  It was accepted by the Deer Creek Mennonite Church, Oklahoma. In addition to being used by Wadsworth pastors, Ephiram Hunsberger, N. C.Hirschy, and A. J. Kleiwer, the old pulpit served nine ministers at Deer Creek.  In 1952 the Oklahoma congregation moved into a new edifice and the pulpit was no longer used.  It was donated in February, 1967, to the Kauffman Museum at Bethel College, N. Newton, Kansas, where it is today.   (Adapted with thanks from material prepared by Rev. Donald Steelberg)