ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH (1908/9)
St. John’s Episcopal Church was organized in 1830 and is the oldest Episcopal church in Summit Co.
Their first building was a shared log cabin near Wetmore Park in Stow. The white frame building built in 1835 was the first church built in “Church Square” on land gifted by Joshua Stow. In 1846 a wood-frame building was built immediately to the north facing Second Street by persons who seceded from the Methodist Episcopal church and organized under the name of "Wesleyans". But they soon disbanded, and the building was sold to the school directors for a high school about 1857.
In 1872 a new high school was built on Germaine St. and the Lyceum was used for schools of lower grade. It became the old West Side Public School/Lyceum Hall. A Band Stand was located about mid-block on Portage Trail in 1901. The 1846 frame church was raised in 1907 to make way for the 1908/9 late Gothic Revival masonry building that stands today. The parish house/office classroom wing was added to the north in 1927 and the south narthex (entry) in 1958. The church displays a beautiful assemblage of stained-glass windows ranging in age from 1910 to 1967.
The building is located within both the National Register and the Cuyahoga Falls Local Downtown Historic Districts.
