Huffman Historic District

Guided Tour: Huffman's Churches

NOTE: The following tour was prepared by a neighbor who has lived next door to one of our churches and regularly attended the other.

We have two absolutely fabulous churches in our neighborhood -- both in terms of architecture and history as well as the people who run them.

St. Paul United Methodist has been a Huffman neighborhood center since 1885.

My first visit to St. Paul was during the neighborhood Christmas tour in 1991. My wife and I had just moved back to Ohio from California, so we were ready for a quintessential Midwest winter. We walked into the sanctuary of St. Paul -- green garland, red ribbon, and it's beautiful Victorian charm -- told us we had found what we were looking for.

In later months, we got to work closely with the people at St. Paul and found that they were committed urban activists with a vibrant vision for the neighborhood.

Linden Avenue Baptist Church. The land for LABC was donated by Wm. Huffman. The towering steeple is an East Dayton landmark, visible from just about anywhere.

As you can see, the steeple is so tall, I couldn't get it into the frame. At night, I like to sit in my backyard and wonder about this steeple -- who were the men who built it? What possessed them to create something so dangerous to build, yet so beautiful? On misty, nights, the steeple seems to weld heaven and earth in a single, unbroken column. Hmm . . . maybe that's why they built it.

The warm glow of the wooden front doors of LABC always feel welcoming, which reflects the philosophy of the people of LABC. They are a community committed to the broader community. What more could you ask from a neighborhood church?

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