Long before the first stone was set in place the planning began. Mr. Charles J. Livingood, the personal representative of Mrs. Emery, travelled in all parts of England, studying the lovely little parish Churches in town and country. Livingood travelled in all parts of England, studying the lovely little parish Churches in town and country

With sketch and note-book and measuring tape, he spent months in careful appraisal of several score places of worship, until he had settled definitely upon the general architectural style to be followed. The church as we have it is not a copy of any other building, but so conceived in the spirit of English-Norman of the eleventh or twelfth century, with additions of later times, that it could be transplanted into any little English village or countryside, and there be immediately at home. And yet, at the same time, it is so much a part of its setting here, that the few years of its actual existence seem to be denied by air of antiquity.


There could be but one location in the village for the house of worship, and that would be on the little hill beside the burying ground. Many years ago, when the Little Miami Valley was pioneer territory, the first families to settle here laid away their dead on the hill, which then stood out more than it does now, guarded by ancient oaks and other splendid hardwood trees, some of which remain to this day. The family names were Sites and Ferris. The headstones go back over a hundred years, one of the earliest being dated 1821.