Hempfield's Harrold Zion church prepares to celebrate 250 years

John Millward knows firsthand the impact a local church can have on its community.

Millward, 67, grew up attending Harrold Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hempfield, where parishioners are eagerly preparing to celebrate the church’s 250th anniversary.

“The church to me is very important,” Millward said. “God is incredibly important, and we have been blessed so much to still be around after all these years.”

Harrold Zion, which sits along Baltzer Meyer Pike, has a storied history in Westmoreland County. The church initially took seed Aug. 22, 1765, when a group of German Lutheran immigrants were granted a warrant for 158 acres of land — named Good Purpose — to be used for schools, churches and cemeteries.

Four years later, large numbers of German immigrants came to the area from eastern Pennsylvania and started the Herold, later Harrold, settlement. By 1772, those living on the land began building their first church. It took 10 years to complete because of Native American attacks.

Immigrants also constructed their first schoolhouse that year, which was used for Lutheran and German Reformed religious services.

The church was officially founded in 1772, when, on Aug. 2 of that year, the first three baptisms were performed by schoolmaster and minister Balthasar Meyer. Church officials still have records of those baptisms, Millward said.

A stone church was built in 1830 in the area of St. John Harrold United Church, which is down the road from the current Harrold Zion church. The church was used into the late 1800s. However, in 1880, “there were some disagreements within the church and it got to the point where the church split, which was a heartbreaking thing,” Millward said.

According to Millward, the split occurred after a new minister came in and introduced a new hymn book.

A different minister then decided the church should have a constitution, which went against some of the original parishioners’ wishes.

The group that wanted the changes took matters to court. A county judge decided the property would belong to that group, Millward said. The case went on to appellate court in Pittsburgh, which ruled in favor of the original group of settlers.

“For a while, the disenfranchised group held church in the schoolhouse, and the group that got all the property still shared the stone church with the (German Reformed),” he said.

The group that vied for the changes ended up building a church in 1884, which is still standing along Middletown Road, although it is no longer used as such.

The church was separated for 70 years. In 1955, the Rev. Reinhold “Dutch” Weber was put in charge of shepherding both congregations. He was present the Sunday afternoon when both church councils met and voted for the congregations to reconcile.

“When one member brought up the motion to become one church, my heart was beating so hard. … It was an unusual experience,” Weber told the Tribune-Review in 2012. “It was the Lord working in mysterious ways and an enormous lift in spirits to unite the two factions.”

After that, officials began building a new church at its current location. It was dedicated in 1965.

Officials are planning an event to celebrate the church’s 250th anniversary. The event is scheduled for July 30-31 and likely will feature self-guided tours through several historical areas, including glimpses of the old schoolhouse, the former Middletown Road church and the original pulpit, located at the old Milliron Church at Weber Memorial in Hempfield.

The two-day event also will feature a picnic and a vespers service. A large service is scheduled for July 31, featuring Bishop Kurt Kusserow of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod.

“Harrold Zion has long thought of itself as the oldest Lutheran congregation west of the Alleghenies. … The congregation has really grown into one of our largest congregations,” Kusserow said. “It’s just a congregation that has excelled in caring for its members and reaching out to its community. I think those things are just critical in congregations moving into the future. Those things just seem to go hand in hand.”

For Millward, whose ancestors were some of the original settlers in the area, being able to celebrate the church’s anniversary is even more special.

“I love the place. (I) really do,” he said.