Eudora Historical Society laments loss of city’s historical jewel

EUDORA, Kan. (WIBW) – The Eudora Area Historical Society has lamented the loss of one of the city’s historical jewels – the old United Methodist Church.

The Eudora Area Historical Society says that Memorial Day Weekend was a bad one for those who care about the preservation of the city’s history.

On Sunday, May 29, the historical society said one of the oldest and most historical buildings in Eudora was the victim of a fire, which left extensive damage to the former United Methodist Church at 703 Church St. It said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The historical society thanked the Eudora City Fire Department and other local departments for containing the fire and preventing the blaze from engulfing the entire building.

“I’ve been told there’s extensive damage to the second and third floors,” Chris Hull, Eudora Assistant Fire Chief, told the Lawrence Journal-World. “We also had to cut holes in the roof for ventilation. They say it still appears structurally sound inside, so that’s a positive. The important thing is nobody was injured.”

Just over a month beforehand, on April 12, the historical society said it profiled the historic former Eudora United Methodist Church from the early 1920s until 2006. It said the city’s English and German Methodist congregations merged in the 20s and built a larger church for their congregation. The church was built on the Akron plan, a popular way of constructing churches in the 20s.

The historical society noted that the Eudora United Methodist Church built its new building at 2084 N 1300th Rd. and sold the historical building to a private owner.

According to the historical society, local historian Janet Campbell recently found two old Eudora Newspaper articles which detailed the grand opening of the church when it first opened in May 1922, exactly 100 years before the fire.

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