Warren church celebrates 108 years with grand reopening of historic chapel

WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) — The Second Baptist Church in Warren has finally completed repairs for its historic chapel. The church commemorated its grand reopening with a 108-anniversary celebration on Sunday.

The chapel, originally constructed in 1919, was dedicated to the nation's veterans right before Veterans Day. Dozens of people gathered for the celebration.

"It just made me imagine what it must have felt like those many years ago when believers would come into the church, and it was often said it was so crowded. People would be standing outside, and they all couldn't fit — and it felt like that was being relived right here," said Reverand Todd Johnson.

The chapel pays special tribute to Black veterans. Johnson announced one way the chapel is thanking those who served.

"We will be offering this chapel to the families of any veterans who may pass away and don't have a church or a chapel to have a formal service, and we'll work to facilitate that for them free of charge," Johnson said.

Mayor Doug Franklin was at the event and presented the church with a flag — a gift he received from former President Barack Obama at a conference.

"This flag was given to me at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Honolulu, Hawaii — the birthplace of President Barack Obama. So, it was a gift of his to all the mayors in the country at the time. I wanted to give you that," Franklin said.

"To know that type of distinguished item will be here on our property, and we'll do our very best to honor that as we honor our veterans," Johnson added.

Before reopening, the chapel was closed for four years and was vandalized in 2021. After costly repairs and renovation, it can be used — but the chapel still needs some work.

"We're going to continue to work to preserve the space to shore up as any old building would have issues to make sure that we strengthen those things so that we don't have those types of issues to zero to four years from now," Johnson said.

The Second Baptist Church is located on Main Avenue SW.