Recently, I mentioned that I knew I had seen a photograph of the first Maple Hill Town School House built in 1887. I found it in the 1975 Maple Hill Community Congregational Church Centennial Book. Since I was on of the compiler/editors of that publication, I remember well that we put the date of the building of the school, not the date of the photograph. The photograph was taken in 1897 rather than 1887. The photograph at that time belonged to Miss Olive Clements and I do not know where it is today.

The Old Stone Church was built in 1881 and dedicated in 1882. It was the only church in the community until the new townsite of Maple Hill was opened for the sale of lots in 1887. The town’s founder, George A. Fowler, then donated lots and funds to build a Methodist Church at the corner of 4th and Fowler Streets.

Buildings in the orignal Maple Hill Townsite, which was located on the south side of Mill Creek on the Pierce Mill Brae Ranch, were moved to the new townsite. Many residents of the area bought lots in the new town, making it difficult for them to attend services at the Old Stone Church. Attendance dwindled despite the vallient efforts of Rev. William Sly Crouch, the longtime pastor of the church. About 1900, George A. Fowler was approached for assistance in building a new Congregational Church in the town of Maple Hill. Fowler had Kansas City architects draw plans for a new stone church. It was never built. Perhaps the cost was too great, but the reasons are not now known.

Instead, George A. Fowler agreed to donate the 1887 school house to the Eliot Congregational Church, so that it might be remodeled into the Maple Hill Congregational Church. The work was done by Thomas Oliver, one of Maple Hill’s finest carpenters at a cost of about $5,000. The new edifice was dedicated in 1905 and continues to be used today.

At the same time, Fowler agreed to give lots on the west side of Maple Hill to build a much larger and improved two-story school house. That building was completed in 1904, so that the original school might be used for the Congregational Church.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Methodist Church fell on hard times and voted to consolidate with the Maple Hill Congregational Church under the new name, Maple Hill Community Congregational Church. The old Methodist Parsonage became the parsonage for the Congregational Church and the Methodist Church was used for many years as a Fellowship Hall. It was torn down in the 1960s.

Top Row L-R: Maple Hill’s First Town School completed in 1887, the Maple Hill Congregational Church remodeled and dedicated in 1905 and the Old Stone Church, constructed 1881-82 and dedicated in August 1882.
Lower Row L-R: The Maple Hill Methodist Church, built and dedicated in 1887-88; the architectural rendering for the Maple Hill Congregational Church never built, and a 2007 photograph of the Maple Hill Community Congregational Church.