‘Sanctuary to Street’ program builds bridges in MH

Published in the September 27 – October 10, 2017 issue of Morgan Hill Life

Parishioner Mary Richardson and Pastor Patrick Davis in the downtown Methodist Church.
Photo by Marty Cheek

For nearly 125 years, thousands of Christians have called the Morgan Hill Methodist Church their faith home. Sitting at the intersection of Fourth Street and Monterey Road in the city’s downtown district, the white clapboard American Gothic structure has born witness to weddings, funerals, baptisms — and most recently the South Valley Quilt Association’s show during this year’s Taste of Morgan Hill.

All that use has during the decades strained the building’s infrastructure. Recently, Mary Richardson, who moved to Morgan Hill from Georgia a year ago and became a parishioner, took on the challenge of restoring the church to its original turn-of-the-century glory. Volunteers pulled out the worn carpet in the sanctuary and found a tongue-in-groove floor made from redwood lumber harvested from the forests at Mt. Madonna. The floor was sanded, stained and varnished to bring out the natural wonder of the wood.

Richardson saw that the 1970s-style pews failed to show off the old-fashioned elegance required for a landmark building. She learned about a set of pews that had been installed in 1917 in a Methodist church in Marina. The pews later went to a Pentecostal congregation which earlier this year put them on the market when its members decided to go for a more modern seating style. Richardson realized that these pews were too long by a foot or two, so decided to get creative. She sought the help of local businessman Leo Flores of JBM Cabinetry to bring them down in size and stain them for their new home in the Morgan Hill Methodist Church.

Mary Richardson, who spearheaded the renovation project, and Pastor Patrick Davis, enjoy a moment in the newly remodeled Morgan Hill Methodist Church. Photo by Marty Cheek

After four weeks of work by Richardson and other volunteers, the congregation entered the newly renovated sanctuary Sept. 17 to find its interior transformed. Richardson was pleased by the happy faces when her fellow parishioners saw the result.

“As soon as I started going to church here, I was like, this building is just screaming ‘Make me pretty again,’” Richardson said. “Everybody knows this old church. Every time there’s a public event, people come in and say, ‘Oh, we wanted to know what it looked like in here.’ And now, I can actually say I’m really proud of what’s in here.”

Built in 1893 when Morgan Hill was a tiny ranching village and farmers drove their produce to market on horse-drawn carts rolling along the dirt-packed Monterey Road, the Methodist Church has sat as an icon of Victorian architecture. It has seen the city grow around it. In the 1920s, workers moved the building 10 feet westward to widen the road for motor vehicles along a paved highway. And with restoration and continued upkeep, Pastor Patrick Davis hopes the elegant church will last another 100 years or more.

A wood-carved detail on a pew. Photo by Marty Cheek

The new pews, which seat 120 people, and the renovated floor are just the beginning of the church’s facelift. The walls and ceiling are covered with intricately designed tin panels, the largest collection of original pressed tin in California, Richardson said. These need to be painted white to bring back their original Victorian luster. The stained-glass windows representing the life of Jesus were installed in the 1980s (in a non-chronological order) after being purchased from another church. These panes are now held in by Plexiglass to prevent them from falling and shattering. The exterior clapboard wood needs a paint job and the roof needs replacing. The electricity requires rewiring. The plumbing is still good and should last another hundred years, Davis said.

“The congregation’s challenge is to maintain a building that people in the community want to keep because there are a lot of memories associated with it,” he said. “And if we say, sorry, we’re going to have to close the building because we can’t maintain it anymore, then everyone gets upset. But then, who is going to pay for an old building? That’s what we’re struggling with.”

About 150 people are members of the Morgan Hill Methodist Church — with a couple coming from as far away as Carmel for Sunday services. Generations of South Valley families have fond memories. With tears in their eyes, people have told the pastor that the small church was the site of their parents’ wedding, or they were baptized in its sanctuary.

“There are so many incredible stories related to the church,” Davis said.

The Sanctuary to Street program connects the congregation with the community. It includes a weekly hot dinner for the homeless. They enjoy their meal cooked and served by volunteers in the spacious banquet room attached to the sanctuary. With the restoration, the Morgan Hill Methodist Church hopes to expand Sanctuary to Street to welcome the public to enjoy jazz and classical music concerts or special educational lectures.

“You really get involved in the community and let people know this is their church and they can come and participate and use its facilities,” Davis said.

To pay for the 17 new pews, members of the congregation and local businesses donated $1,200 each to have a small plaque with their name or the name of a loved one attached to the ends.

Richardson said she was nervous the day when the carpet was pulled out.

“I wasn’t really sure what was going to be under there. Nobody knew. Even the oldest church members said they didn’t know because they had always remembered carpet,” she said. “So it was kind of a gamble. And once we started, we found it was the original tongue-in-groove redwood floors from when they were harvesting at Mt. Madonna. They boards are in great condition. Obviously, they’ve got the marks. I love all the character in it.”

Taking out the carpets and refinishing the floor improved not only the appearance of the sanctuary but improved the space as a potential place for intimate concerts.

“I’ve always wanted to see a Thursday night jazz thing here,” Richardson said. “The acoustics are so cool and awesome.”

A major reason for the renovation was to make the church a more attractive place for “vintage weddings” for brides who want the look and feel of an old-fashioned matrimonial ceremony.

Opening the church to weekend weddings will help provide revenue for the improvements and maintenance in the coming years. The church can fit up to 200 people if the banquet room is used, and the courtyard and gardens can be used for the reception. Or the wedding party can stroll across the street to one of the nearby restaurants.

“Everyone is just into these vintage weddings now — people drinking out of old Mason jars and wearing old lace. And I thought, this is perfect, you don’t get more historical and vintage,” Richardson said of the church. “I think a lot of brides will come in and see this and say, ‘Let’s have our wedding here.’”

With the ongoing renovations, the Morgan Hill Methodist Church hopes to see a growing connection with the community as more residents visit for concerts, weddings and other special events, Richardson said.

“This building is a landmark in Morgan Hill, and we want to open it up to the public,” she said. “We really want for people to see us in a different way. There’s something very reverent about coming into an old-fashioned church like this. I’m an architectural design nut, so I look at everything here — and for me it’s so beautiful.”