From 1904-1907 we were apparently a part of the Westwood Circuit together with Groesbeck, Asbury, Miami, Mt. Hope and Dent Churches with W. F. Martin as the pastor. In 1909 we were assigned to the Westwood Circuit but with only Groesbeck and Asbury Churches (total members in these three churches as 132). From 1910-1931 we were lost from the Journals.
Our church members were instrumental in re-organizing and re-opening the Asbury Methodist Church (now the Monfort Heights United Methodist Church) which closed in 1916 and re-opened May 6, 1934. Some of our members transferred there which helped in the re-organization.
In 1932 we show up again in the Ohio Conference Journal and were joined by Shiloh with C. F. Stephenson as the pastor serving in his eighth year. In 1934 we were joined with Asbury with Jack Childress as pastor. In 1935 we were joined with Mt. Hope again with Jack Childress as pastor. In 1938 we were joined with Hooven with C. J. Bernhardt as pastor.
The Ebenezer Church became inadequate in the late thirties and the congregation took steps to replace the old brick building. During this campaign, Pastor Bernhardt stopped in to see Mr. August "Doc" Wilke, who was ill at the time. This was the first time that Mr. Wilke was visited by a member of the clergy. The visit so moved Mr. Wilke that upon his death, his wife, the late Amelia Wilke, saw fit to donate the land, build and completely furnish the church building as a memorial to her husband. Mr. Bibent, brother of Mrs. Wilke, supplied all his time and services in the supervision of construction details at no cost to the Church. Ground breaking took place on June 23, 1940 and the dedication was held on December 8, 1940.
To enable the church to get a good start, Mrs. Wilke also paid the minister's salary and current expenses for one year. During the erection of this building, the men and women of the congregation worked hard to have everything in readiness for their new spiritual home. The old bell from the old Brick Church on the corner of Ebenezer and Bridgetown Roads was transferred to the new structure.
In 1940 the Conference Journal reported a new church built for $25,000 and debt free. The report in the Journal uses the name Ebenezer Church, but in the list of appointments we were called Wilke and our official name then became Wilke Memorial Community Church and we became a station appointment, or single church charge.
On December 9, 1943, Mrs. Wilke donated the site east of the Church for a parsonage and part of the parking lot. In 1949 the present parsonage was built with much aid from the Men's Brotherhood, Women's Society for Christian Service, Youth Groups and other organizations of the church. The parsonage replaced rented quarters that were provided for the minister by the congregation.
On Sunday afternoon, August 3, 1958, the members and friends of Wilke Church joined together and pulled upon ropes which were attached to an old farm plow. In this fashion, ground was broken for our new one-floor addition (the first floor of our current educational wing) which provided us with seven modern classrooms, a nursery for infants, four more restrooms and a ladies' lounge. At this same time the parking lot was increased in size, the land for the added parking being donated by Mr. and Mrs. Earl Zell. The Education Wing was dedicated on January 10, 1960 and the mortgage was burned in 1966.
In 1967 our church name was again changed by vote of the congregation to "Oak Hills Methodist Church" in order to identify it by the community location.
In 1968 the United Brethren and the Methodist Churches combined as United Methodists and our local church changed its name again; we are now the "Oak Hills United Methodist Church".
In 1971 our present Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall was built at a cost of $165,000. The cornerstone of the 1849 Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church was incorporated into the Narthex wall of the new Sanctuary.
Our latest building project was completed in 2002. Additional Sunday School rooms and offices were created by building a second story on top of our educational wing. This addition also includes an elevator to allow handicapped access to Fellowship Hall and the first floor classrooms. This project was completed at a cost of over $400,000. This is a very short history of our church. It has been pieced together from many sources. Every source indicates that much work, many sacrifices and a tremendous amount of prayers have gone into its building. This has been done so that we could have a house of worship. We must respect the pioneers who have given us so much. They have done this so that we
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