When America was building its great institutions, including the churches that would form the cultural center of many newly-emerging communities, it was an absolutely booming time for the stain glass industry, noted Donald Samick.

What so many of those churches wanted, he added, were those iconic and artistic stained glass windows.

The American studios flourished, as did studios in Germany, Austria and England, to meet the demand for glass in new church buildings across the country, noted Samick, the president and owner of J&R Lamb Studios in Midland Park, N.J.

That boom would continue until the Great Depression, he added, which slowed down new church construction or those using stained glass windows.

But not for long, he added.

During the depression, The architects who were building churches did not want to use opalescent stain glass windows, he said. They wanted to go back to gothic.

Then came the second World War, and the trend shifted back again, Samick added.

At the end of World War II, another economic resurgence took place, he said. This time all the churches built at the turn of the century without stain glass suddenly wanted to put in tributes to the wars heroes.

On Wednesday, Samick gave a lecture on Stained Glass of the J. & R. Lamb Studios and Its Contemporaries of the 20th Century at the Hugh F. and Jeannette G. McKean Pavilion at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, as part of the museums free lecture series.

Before an overflow crowd inside the auditorium, Samick noted that there are some misconceptions about stained glass including the common view that it represents a relic of the past. Not true, he added.

Read more:
History of stained glass: from churches to collectors

Twenty five years ago, 17 people started a church in the basement of a Springboro home.

Today, Berachah Church has 500 members and worships in Middletown High School, but thats going to change after the Middletown City Schools District board of education voted 4 to 1, with Katie McNeil casting the no vote, to sell the former Verity Middle School and surrounding 60 acres to Berachah for $293,000, or 40 percent of its appraised value.

McNeil wanted to sell the school, but not all the acreage, she said.

More money was her reason, she said.

When the district held a public auction on Dec. 17 for the property at 1900 Johns Road, Berachah bid $293,000 for all three parcels, $3,000 more than the Performing Arts Academy, said George Long, district business manager. The property was appraised at $740,000, he said.

By selling the property, Long said the district wont have to demolish the school at a cost of $330,000 and that money can be used renovating Middletown High School and building a middle school. He said if the school was demolished, the 60 acres would be appraised at $250,000.

About 50 Berachah Church members stayed throughout the two-hour meeting until the board voted on the proposal. When it was announced the property was sold, there was a loud cheer in the council chambers.

During his address to board members, Lamar Ferrell, pastor of Berachah, thanked them for allowing the church to fulfill its vision and dream.

We are here to shine our light, he said. But its not our light. Its the light God put inside us. We believe in this community.

Then he added: The best is yet to come.

View post:
Board OKs sale of former Verity School to church

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