National Register reference number.78002020- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1914 to 1996
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
82 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
19141996
Fires near this property
1 since 2002
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Bethel Methodist Church
in 2002, burning about 1 acre in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Arson/incendiarism
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 1,000 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Bethel Methodist Church between 1866 and 1975: 772 Animalia, 175 Fungi, 41 Plantae, 11 Protozoa, 1 Chromista.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A JOHN, A JOHN AND R KNOTTS, A JOHN AND T RITTER and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Bantam, the town this property stands in, in 1 storm report in 2019: 1 thunderstorm wind.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
CONDITION UNEXPOSED DETERIORATED RUINS EXCELLENT UNALTERED XALTERED FAIR CHECK ONE tulip shaped dome. square with clapboard siding supporting a simply adorned inerted cut across the facade for a distance of approximately two feet. The facade has no windows but is distinguished by an The rear of the church is windowless.The bell tower is a wooden small carved wood cornice.Above the cornice are two narrow the entrance is a plaque inscribed "Bethel M.E. Church, Old Bethel Church is a rectangle, frame building with stone The original church building erected in 1805 was log.In 1818 a frame structure was built and in l867 the building was re- hung l2- over- l2 windows, with simple lintels and sills. X-GOOD DATE modeled. It is presently being restored.
capped by a small decorative cornice with end brackets.Above windows with a panel beneath each window.These windows are unusual entrance.The doors are double paneled doors with a foundation.The roof is gabled witha bell tower at the east Erected 1805,rebuilt 1867".The overhanging eaves of the roof AREAS OF
Statement of significance
Jersey Settlement and the establishment of the town of Bantam. instrumental in the spread of Methodism in southern Ohio. buried in the graveyard at "old Bethel Church." church, but the social center as well.The success of the New Jersey own use and divided the remainder among other pioneer families from John Collins came to Ohio from Glocester County, New Jersey, in 1802. It is said that John Collins was the first Methodist minister to preach -COMMUNICATIONS -SCIENCE This church was the subject of a law suit involving the State of Ohio and that the title will be heldoby the Department of Natural Resources. -1400-1499 The minister and builder of "old Bethel Church," John Collins, was in southwestern Ohio. 1900- -MUSIC 1818 & 1867 a frame building, remodeled in 1867.
started churches in Lebanon, Dayton, Chillicothe, and Hillsboro. PHILOSOPHY SPECIFIC DATES church he built a mile from Bantam, served not only as the community The building is a good example from General William Lytle in 1803.Collins kept 400 acres for his "old Bethel Church"is a memorial to the early pioneers of the New
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 78002020, 15 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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