The History
The Old Maple Grove Church Preservation Committee was organized in January of 2006, to find a solution to save the original Maple Grove Church. The church, located in Eckford Township, Calhoun County, Michigan, was built between April 1900 and March 1901 at a total cost of $1,641.47. Before the church closed in 1919, it was known as “The Free Will Baptist Society of Maple Grove” and later was changed to “Maple Grove Bible Church” when it reopened in 1929. A new Maple Grove Bible Church was built in the early 1980s on the same property. The original church, abandoned and in disrepair, was scheduled for demolition in the summer of 2006 to make way for a parking lot. Upon its relocation, the original church was then named “The Old Maple Grove Church.”
On February 26, 2006, the congregation of the Maple Grove Bible Church graciously donated the original structure to the Calhoun County Agricultural and Industrial Society on the Old Maple Grove Church Preservation Committee’s behalf. It is the committee’s fundamental purpose to save this beautiful country church from destruction by relocating it to the Calhoun County Fairgrounds, where it will be restored and preserved, so that once again it can serve the community’s faith. The church will also provide an example of early 20th century architecture and will be used to educate today’s youth about rural spiritual life of long ago.
