As the pioneers of the early Methodist Protestant Church began moving westward from Baltimore, they brought with them the love of the churches of their choice. Thus, in an early day, what was known as the Hopewell Methodist Protestant Church was built one and one-half miles south of Altona. It is said that this was the second church built in the county. Rev. H. Stackhouse served the Hopewell church from 1891–93. In 1893, Rev. E. J. Scott became the minister and on “July 27th, 1894, the membership of the Hopewell Church transferred to the Altona Church and the Butler Center Church, E. J. Scott, Pastor.” This is a quote of a notation Rev. Scott wrote in the Membership Book kept at the Mitchell Street Methodist Church in Kendallville. The Altona people then moved the old church to Altona and rebuilt it, and the Butler Center people built the brick church in Butler Center, which was closed in 1962. These two churches were connected with the Kendallville Circuit until August 1898. At the Annual Conference held at Liberty Center, Wells County, in August 1898, Altona and Butler Center were detached from the Kendallville Circuit, and Rehobeth was detached from the St. Joe Circuit. Therefore, Rehobeth was added to Butler Center and Altona, constituting the Altona Circuit.
The Altona membership met with a great loss on February 26, 1907, when their church burned, but out of the ruins of the old came the fine cement block church that has stood as a monument to the heroic efforts of the pastor and people and blessed by the Lord. Immediately after the fire, the consecrated pastor, Rev. P. F. Boxell, with his faithful members, began to build a new church structure. On May 10, 1907, Rev. Boxell made the first cement block for the church, and the new structure was dedicated on May 31, 1908.
Upon extensive research, both in the DeKalb County Courthouse at Auburn and the Noble County Courthouse at Albion, we do not find any record of the trustees of the Altona Church when it was organized in 1894, but we did find the Parsonage Trustees for 1894–95, who were Charles A. Shaffer, Martha Embry, H. E. Gettle, O. E. Clark, G. S. Henry, and Ephraim Olinger. Nor did we find the trustees who rebuilt the church after the fire in 1907. However, we did find the trustees of the Parsonage in 1900 when C. W. Evans was pastor. They were John Maggert, George Probst, Benjamin Hawver, and G. A. Adams. We also found the parsonage trustees in 1907 were John Maggert, Jonas Veasey, and George Adams.
We further found in a newspaper account the names of those who contributed their time and efforts to the rebuilding of the church in 1907. These were Oliver Weller, Charles Weller, E. Yarde, John Maggert, Edward Kelham, James Kelham, Newton DePew, Sr., John Barber, and others. It is unfortunate that the names of others who put in many hours of thought, prayer, and service were not recorded, but even though we do not know them by name, God knows!
The following ministers help make up the history of the Altona Methodist Church:
1894-1896 E. J. Scott
1896-1896 A. O. Lucas
1896-1898 W. H. Green
1898-1899 A. H. McClain (6 mo.)
1899-1900 T. E. Lameaster
1900-1902 C. W. Evans
1902-1903 F. M. Hussey
1903-1904 P. B. Leach
1904-1906 C. A. Frakes
1906-1908 P. W. Boxell
1908-1910 W. S. Harper
1910-1911 W. S. Cooms
1911-1914 A. L. Woston
1914-1915 E. L. Myers
1915-1916 J. W. Anderson
1916-1919 C. C. Farmer
Between the end of the first World War and 1925, we have J. H. Ramsey, J. R. Elson, O. S. Rardin, A. A. Irelan and V. B. Ratcliff. The averase pastorate was one to three years.
1925-1931 (or these approximate dates to the best obtainable information) the church was closed. At the Annual Conference in August, 1931, Altona was dropped from the other two churches and beeame an independent church. Butler Center and Rehobeth churches were formed into a circuit known as Garrett circuit. We will follow with the Altona Church pastors.
1931-1932 W. L. Heitz
1932-1933 G. M. McKinley
1933-1934 Mrs. C. H. Simons
1934-1935 P. W. Boxell
1935-1938 Wm. D. Koehlien
1938-1940 A. L. Wooton
1940-1941 Earl Buskirk
1941-1942 James D. Bell
1942-1944 O. B. Gray
1944-1946 No pastor
1946-1947 T. Gottschalk
1947-1948 Chas. Joder
1948-1951 E. J. Gilford
1951-1955 James Lantz
1955-1956 Carl Blackendorf
1956-1957 Eugene Stolte
1957-1960 Jim M. Fritz
1960-1962 Rev. Stafford
1962-1963 Ed. Biehold
1963-1964 Jim M. Fritz
1964-1966 Don Klopfenstein