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Submitted: 2/25/12 • Approved: 2/25/12 • Last Updated: 8/9/12 • R655096-G0-S3
This is a picture of the old building that was built in the cemetery in Western Calico Rock for the Calico Rock Baptist Church. It later became the home of the Calico Rock Progress newspaper and then the Calico Rock Mennonite Fellowship. This picture was taken in 1982 and was copied from the July 1982 edition of the Izard County Historian Quarterly.
The Calico Rock Baptist Church was organized in 1903, and the building was constructed about that time. There was already a cemetery on the grounds with the oldest marked grave being that of S. S. Calloway who died December 19, 1883.
When the Baptist Church constructed a new church building in the northeast part of Calico Rock, the property on West First Street was sold to Eugene and Lillian Lockwood. For six years, the building was used as a print shop for the Calico Rock Progress and residence of the owners. In April 1964, John Landis Grasse and Dr. A. Meryl Grasse purchased the property. The building became the home of the Calico Rock Mennonite Fellowship until a new building for the Calico Rock Mennonite Fellowship was constructed in eastern Calico Rock in the mid-1960's.
When the Grasses purchased the property, the building was very run down, and the cemetery was completely overgrown with brush and weeds. In a speech to the Izard County Historical Society in 1982, Dr. Grasse said that from comparing old pictures, the building had been revised numerous times. He said some of the older pictures made it appear that the building was even turned around. At one point, an addition was added on the east side to enlarge the sanctuary and a belfry was also added, and then the entrance was through the belfry. When the Baptist moved to their new building, they took the bell from the belfry with them. By the time the Mennonites were using the building, there was a leaking problem around the belfry so it was removed.
After the Calico Rock Mennonite Fellowship moved to a new facility in eastern Calico Rock, the old building on West First Street was torn down. The material from the material was moved to Dr. Meryl Grasse's home and then his youngest daughter Chloe and her husband moved some of the material to Pennsylvania where it was used in the construction of a new straw house.
Today the former site of the old church building is just part of the well maintained Calico Rock Mennonite Cemetery that is used by the
members of the Calico Rock Mennonite Fellowship.
[Note: The information for the history of the Calico Rock Mennonite Cemetery and the building was was on the grounds for many years came from the files of Mrs. Mary Margaret Grasse, and from an article in the Izard County Historian Quarterly Volume 13--July 1982.]
Contributed on 2/25/12 by maxparnell
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Record #: 655096