Ward Chapel AME Church — a part of the Iola community almost as long as it has existed — is no more.
The church will host its final service with a simple affair July 20 at the home of Spencer and Helen Ambler, where worship services have been held for the past several months.
Declining numbers — only five regularly attend services nowadays — and the cost to maintain the church prompted the members to decide to dissolve the church earlier this year.
“It’s sad,” Helen said. “I sit here sometimes by myself, and I think about all the stories people have told me. There are a million of them.”
Helen’s family has been involved with the church since before it was built in 1914. Her great-grandfather purchased the property on which the building sits at the intersection of Buckeye and Lincoln streets. Her grandfather, Lawson Newman, was a church clerk for more than 50 years.
And Helen herself was just as involved, from leading Sunday School services to printing programs for funerals and anniversaries to hosting chili feeds.
“She’s done everything in that church except preach,” Spencer said.
IN A WAY, having the final services at the Ambler home reflects how the African Methodist Episcopal Church got its start in Iola in 1873.
The late Phyllis Bass, a church historian, wrote and spoke about the origins on several occasions.
In Iola’s early days, a number of Blacks — some former slaves — migrated to Iola and were looking for a place of worship.
With no permanent facilities, they’d gather at members’ homes, and even a campsite along Elm Creek south of town.
The AME church was first organized in the spring of 1873, the first Black church to be organized in the area.
As they considered permanent locations, the members bought a plot of land on South Chestnut Street, but then decided against building there because of flood concerns.
As membership steadily increased, particularly with an influx of workers at the newly opened Lehigh Portland Cement plant, the search for a new site intensified.
They even built a church in Bassett, near the plant, but just as quickly realized the structure wasn’t big enough.
That’s when they found the site in the 500 block of North Buckeye Street.
