Winchester church to likely
receive historical marker
By BILL RICHMOND
City editor
The Indiana Historical Bureau recently accepted a preliminary application to place a historical marker at Friends Church of Winchester recognizing the contributions of Quakers to state history and culture. A final decision on the marker will be made within a few months.
Friends Church co-pastor Pam Ferguson researched and authored the historical marker application.
The State Historical Bureau said the application has statewide significance. A status report by the bureau said Quakers were an influential part of Indiana's development as a state. A state marker would allow the Historical Bureau to chronicle some of the church's contributions to Indiana history.
The list of Quaker contributions to state history includes early settlers of the area, Underground Railroad activity, allowing women in the clergy, setting up schools for Native Americans, offering assistance to freed slaves after the Civil War and championing temperance. The status report said the list of contributions is so long and varied as to present a potential problem in determining exactly what contributions will be noted on the marker.
Ferguson said they will hopefully be notified of approval for the marker by late spring or early summer. The final OK now depends on reaching an agreement on what the marker will say and how it will be worded.
"We're really excited the Historical Society will mark the contributions by Quakers to the state of Indiana," Ferguson said. "For Quakers this is a really big thing.
"I am also working on an archive of the church's history - having the historical marker here will go really well with the process we've started setting up."
Meanwhile, her husband, co-pastor Ron Ferguson is in the process of filling out applications for a series of solar panels to be placed on the church roof.
Pam said as it is important to recognize the past accomplishments of local Quakers, it is also vital to continue being responsible for the future.
"Hope for the future is grounded in our concern for the past," she said.
The East Central Indiana territory which became Randolph County was first settled by Quakers (the Society of Friends) from North Carolina in 1814.
In Pam Ferguson's application, she notes that by 1873, Quakers established weekly worship services in Winchester. In 1874, a group of seven Monthly Meetings around Winchester formed the Winchester Quarterly Meeting of Friends. By 1897, there were 27 Friends Meetings in the Winchester Quarterly Meeting with a total membership of 3,917. This made Winchester Quarterly Meeting the largest Quarterly Meeting of Friends in the world at that time.
County Historian Dr. Greg Hinshaw said until recently Randolph County was one of only four counties in the state with no historical markers. State approval was granted a year ago for a marker in downtown Farmland, and a second such sign honoring Lee Driver will be installed Feb. 23 at Driver Middle School. The Friends Church marker will likely be the third such sign in the county.
