Staff

Custodian: Marcia Shomaker

Director of Music: Charla Dryburgh

Secretary/Treasurer/Web: Marcia Wohlford

Driving Directions

From Mt. Vernon: 11.4 miles - about 19 minutes (from the downtown square)
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Head south on Ohio 13 for about 10.9 miles and turn left onto North St. (2nd street once you enter the Utica City limits) Once you are on North St. drive for about .5 miles and our church building is on the right.

From Newark: 10.9 miles - about 16 minutes (starting at Ohio 13 and 21st)
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Head north on Ohio 13 for about 10.4 miles and turn right onto North St. (from U.S. 62/Columbus Rd. it is the 5th street) Once you are on North St. drive for about .5 miles and our church building is on the right.

From Columbus: 22.7 miles - about 32 minutes (starting at 161 and U.S. 62 in New Albany) Click Here For A Map
Head northeast on U.S. 62 for about 21.5 miles and turn left at S. Main St/Ohio 13 for about .7 miles and then turn right onto North St. (from U.S. 62/Ohio 13 it is the 5th street) Once you are on North St. drive for about .5 miles and our church building is on the right.

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Church Office Hours

M-F 8 AM-12 Noon

office phone (740) 892-2621

Location: 626 North Street

Utica, Ohio

HISTORY

The Utica United Methodist Church was first organized in 1810, the same year the Village of Utica was settled by Joseph Conard, Nathan Conard, Jacob Hanger, Abraham Kearns and three local preachers—Caleb Pumphrey, John Green and James Smith. However, after only two years, the Rev. Mr. Ellis destroyed the church records and then invited all who really wished to be Methodists to come forward.

In its early days, the Utica Church depended on lay preachers and itinerant circuit rider ministers, but in 1853 the local church was included in a circuit of seven churches. Starting in 1859, Utica had preaching every Sabbath, with a senior preacher and a junior preacher. In 1867, John Whitworth became the one minister in the charge. Three years later, the Utica and Martinsburg Methodist Churches were combined into one charge. In 1968, the United Brethren and Methodist Churches united to become one denomination, using United Methodist. One of the ministers who have served the local church was Rev. John Emmett, who served in the Revolutionary War, and was grandfather of Dan Emmett, composer of “Dixie.”

Until a small brick church was built south of the Licking Creek in 1930, worship services were held in private homes. But this building was abandoned two years later after being used as hospital during a cholera epidemic. Three churches were built on North Main Street—the first one in 1837; a larger church in 1873, which was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1905. This church (pictured) was also destroyed by fire on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 1962. The congregation began at once to plan a new building and selected the present “Hickory Grove” site on North Street.

Members worshipped in the Utica Junior High School while the new church was under construction. However, the Rev. Donald Newland, pastor at the time, began to hold Sunday morning services in an outdoor chapel each summer. Excavation for the present church began in 1964, and the cornerstone ceremony was held in August of that year. The congregation held its first worship service in the new church Christmas, 1964.