Pine City's Stone church will again host Yule event

The A. J. Smith store was built in the late 1890's and closed in 1909 when Smith's son, Ennis and wife Bertha Smith moved to Canada. After Ennis moved, Ira Smith who had worked in the store with Ennis built another store. In 1914 the old stone store was remodeled into a church. A.J. Smith checked on the remodeling of the building every day. A.J., who was very hard of hearing, stepped in front of a train and was killed during one of these visits. The building was not yet completed, so A.J.'s funeral had to be held in the school house. Photo courtesy Whitman County Rural Heritage, Pine City Historical Society Collection.

Pine City Historical Society Sunday, Dec. 3, at 2 p.m. will once again sponsor a Christmas program at the Stone Church.

The vocal group His Song will lead the program as it has since the first such celebration. While that first service was done a cappella with the audience seated under quilts, thanks to the efforts of the historical society and donations, there will be electricity, heat and instruments.

The program is offered free of charge, but donations will be accepted to help maintain the building.

The historical society recently finished masonry work on the stone church and is turning its focus to the eaves and looking forward to getting the bell tower painted.

The bell is still in the tower, and is rung before the program begins.

The stone church was originally built in 1902 to be a store owned by A.J. Smith. When the railroad was built nearby, the trains spooked the horses at the store, so the store was moved and the building became a church.

On April 1, 1914, the First Church of Christ took over the building and held regular services until 1969. The last two members of the church, the Cooks, deeded the building to the Pine City Historical Society which was formed in 1998 to preserve and maintain it.

First goal was to completely re-roof the church.