Episcopal Mission of the Ascension

Duane's take

Here's how the marker on this one reads, friends, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, Decatur's got itself a church, the oldest original church building in the whole town, and if you've got a minute, its story is worth every second. This is the Episcopal Mission of the Ascension, and it has lived more lives than most buildings dare to dream of.

Pull up a log and listen. The church was erected in 1889, facing Main Street, two blocks west of the square. The Rt.

Rev. A. C.

Garrett, great missionary bishop, that's how the marker puts it, and I see no reason to argue, he consecrated it. And somewhere along the way, folks took to calling it something that just fits: The Little Church with the Crosses. You can hear the affection in that name, can't you?

Now, the years are not always kind. By 1912, the little church had deteriorated. But here's where the story turns; it was restored.

And not just repaired; it was moved, repositioned, now facing Walnut Street instead of Main. A new direction, a second life. Most of us would've called it a day there.

But this church wasn't done. In 1940, the building was sold and used as a mattress factory. A mattress factory.

Now, I won't editorialize too heavily, but let's just say that is quite a fall from consecrated ground. And yet, same year, 1940, it was rescued. Moved again.

And this time, when they set it down, they placed the sanctuary facing east. Toward Jerusalem. Symbolically, the marker says.

Deliberately. That little church had been moved, repurposed, and redeemed, and in the end, it was pointed toward something eternal. That's not just old timber and old nails.

That's a building that kept finding its way back.

What the marker says

Oldest original church building in Decatur. Consecrated by great missionary bishop, the Rt. Rev. A. C. Garrett. Erected facing Main Street (2 blks. W. of square) in 1889. Known as "The Little Church with the Crosses", by 1912 it had deteriorated, but was restored and moved, facing Walnut Street. In 1940 building was sold, used as mattress factory, but rescued same year and moved here, with sanctuary placed symbolically to east, toward Jerusalem.