CHURCH OF THE MASTER in CLEVELAND HTS. organized in 1921, the descendant of 6 Baptist churches. Its earliest progenitor was the Scovill Ave. Mission at Scovill and Hudson (E. 30th) St., organized as a Sunday school in 1858 by the Erie St. Baptist Church. A Gothic frame building was built the following year. The church operated as a mission of the Erie St. Church until Jan. 1868, when it was made independent and renamed Tabernacle Baptist Church. Farther east, at Garden St. (Central Ave.) and Baden (E. 67th) St., a chapel known as the Garden St. Mission was dedicated in Nov. 1873. Laura and JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER were active members of the mission; Mr. Rockefeller served as superintendent. In 1878 ground was broken for the Willson Ave. Baptist Church, at Willson Ave. (E. 55th St.) and Quincy. This congregation resulted from the merger of the Tabernacle and Garden St. congregations.
Another east side congregation of BAPTISTS, Logan Ave. Baptist, was started with 36 members at DOAN'S CORNERS in 1884, and a brick building was built on EUCLID AVE. at Logan (E. 97th) St. The church burned in Mar. 1890, and the congregation fell on difficult times. In 1892 the name of the church was changed to East End Baptist. After a decline in the 1890s, membership climbed to over 200 with the arrival of a new pastor in 1901. By 1903 funds had been secured (in large part from Rockefeller) and plans drawn by Hubbell & Benes for a large new building, dedicated in 1907. The building was of Georgian Revival style, with a central tower and facade said to be modeled after Independence Hall. By 1914 the church claimed 562 members. In 1916 fire gutted the church, rebuilt the next year. In 1921 East End Baptist merged with the Willson Ave. Church and was renamed Church of the Master. By 1948 the church was faced with costly building repairs and a congregation that lived outside the neighborhood. A new site was chosen, on Monticello Blvd. at Quarry Rd. in Cleveland Hts. The first phase of the Colonial-style building, designed by Copper, Wade & Assoc., was dedicated in 1952, and an education wing was added in the 1960s. In 1995 the church had a membership of about 100.
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See also RELIGION.