From a Mt. Lookout Meeting to a Gothic Sanctuary on Grace Avenue
In 1879, fifteen Methodists in Mt. Lookout, an eastern suburb of Cincinnati, began meeting in neighborhood homes and formed what would become Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church. A year later, they built a 28-by-60-foot wooden church on the corner of Observatory Road and Grace Avenue, on land donated by John Kilgour "to be used for religious purposes, only." A 72-foot tower marked the modest frame building. That church was destroyed on the evening of January 5, 1924, when a ten-alarm fire engulfed the building and left nothing inside.
Rev. Earl Hoon arrived in November 1924 with a vision for a new building patterned on a thirteenth-century cathedral in Manchester, England. The architects estimated that $500,000 would need to be raised; with more than $200,000 in pledges, ground was broken on March 1, 1925, and the cornerstone was laid on September 13 of that year. The new Gothic sanctuary was dedicated on September 25, 1927, in a fifteen-day celebration that newspapers covered in banner headlines. In his remarks, trustee Anson Fry stressed that the church owed much to the wider community: three outside groups, one Jewish, one Catholic, and one with no religious connection, had pledged more than $100,000 toward the structure. The church, he said, would not wait for denominational lines to fall but would open its doors seven days a week to all who wished to use the facilities, with programs for adults and youth.
By 1966, the educational wing added under the leadership of Dr. Emerson S. Colaw had nearly doubled the building's space, and the congregation had grown past 3,100 members. Today that same Gothic sanctuary on the corner of Observatory and Grace is the heart of a congregation that gathers three times on Sunday in both traditional and contemporary worship, with an 88-rank Casavant organ anchoring the music program and a labyrinth tucked outside the chapel.
Three Services, Two Styles of Worship
Sunday mornings at Hyde Park Community begin with two traditional services at 8:00 and 9:30 a.m. Both follow a pattern of biblical preaching, choral music, and congregational hymns sung with the Great Organ. The 8:00 a.m. service features music led by Ben Owen, Director of Music Ministries; the 9:30 a.m. service adds the Cathedral Choir, also under Owen's direction.
At 11:00 a.m., the contemporary service called Worship@11 takes over. The Praise Team, directed by Aimee Stockdale, leads the congregation in a variety of musical styles, with biblical preaching, prayer, and a special time with children.
Between the services, the Welcome Center hosts Coffee Fellowship from 9:00 to 9:30 a.m. and again from 10:30 to 11:00 a.m., a chance to meet new people over a snack and coffee before or after worship or Sunday School.
An Open Welcome
HPCUMC's inclusivity statement names the church's commitments plainly: "God's grace extends to all people and all people are of sacred worth to God." The church welcomes and affirms persons of any age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship status, race, ethnic or cultural background, faith tradition, disability, economic status, marital status, or family configuration. Recognizing the breadth of political perspectives from conservative to progressive, the church commits to cultivating an inclusive, affirming, respectful, and grace-filled community.
This commitment runs deep into the life of the church. The Current Events and Faith Sunday School class is a member of the Reconciling Ministries network, working for the full participation of LGBTQIA+ people in the life and leadership of the church. Same-sex marriages have long been performed in the sanctuary, and the congregation walks in the Cincinnati Pride Parade, handing out goldfish crackers and water bottles along the route. The church's current mission and values - Curious, Courageous, Connected - guide a strategic plan that runs through 2027.
Children and Youth: Family Ministry
The Family Ministry at Hyde Park Community welcomes all families and offers programming from infancy through high school. The nursery, in Room 120, opens at 9:00 a.m. and remains open through the 11:00 service, caring for children from birth through age two. Pam Pilger, the Early Childhood Coordinator, oversees the work along with volunteers and paid nursery staff.
Sunday School for preschoolers ages three through five meets at 9:30 a.m. in Room 216, with children singing, dancing, and exploring a weekly Bible story. Children in kindergarten through fifth grade gather at 9:15 a.m. in the Welcome Center, join the 9:30 a.m. service with their parents for the Children's Moment, and then travel together to Sunday School in the Little Theater on the second floor. Children's Choir, led by Grace Devoid, rehearses Sundays from 10:30 to 11:00 a.m. during the school year, with the children occasionally leading worship from the chancel.
Middle and high school students gather on the third floor in the youth ministry lounge, beginning at 9:15 a.m. for the 9:30 service and at 10:45 a.m. for the 11:00 service. The Youth Ministry partners with parents to help young people develop in all aspects of life as they prepare for college and careers. A scholarship fund, established through the generosity of Shirley Kyle Marts, supports graduating high school seniors each year.
On Monday mornings, parents of children of any age can drop in for Intentional Parenting, a discussion-based group that meets at 10:00 a.m. in the Welcome Center. Childcare is provided.
Adults: Classrooms, Connect Groups, and the Enneagram
The church's adult faith formation centers on Sunday morning classes that meet between and after the worship services. At 9:30 a.m., Bible Journey in Room 205 is a lecture-based class led by retired pastor and Biblical scholar Rev. Pete Rudowski for adults who want to immerse themselves in scripture. Faith Weavers, in the Library, is a discussion-based class of mostly parents in their forties and fifties, working through books like Bonhoeffer's Life Together and HPCUMC's own devotionals. Let's Get Real, in the Parlor, gathers people between thirty and fifty to take up the hard questions of faith in a safe, inclusive setting, working through books and podcasts like the Evolving Faith series.
At 11:00 a.m., Soul Builders in Room 205 brings together adults fifty-five and up for discussion of contemporary theology and literature. New Ventures, led by Rev. Dr. Michael Vilardo, meets both in the Library and on Zoom for people fifty and over interested in progressive Christian theology. Current Events and Faith, in the Parlor, anchors discussion of gun violence, LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and social justice in civic life.
On Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Christine McHenry and Daryl Hams lead Seeking God in Everyday Life in the Social Hall, meeting every other week to slow down and reflect on where God is showing up. Tuesday mornings, Pastor Todd Anderson leads a study on Justo Gonzalez's The Story of Christianity in the Little Theater. The young adult ministry, directed by Rev. Kate Smith, meets Monday evenings at Bean and Barley on Madison Road for a long-running study that has walked through Methodist history, doctrine, and the future of the denomination.
Connect Groups are the church's small-group network, built around five shared ingredients: fellowship, worship and prayer, study, accountability, and mission or outreach. Groups meet weekly or twice a month in homes, on Zoom, and at the church.
A newer addition is the Enneagram. Katie Whitlock, a Cincinnati-based Enneagram practitioner who studied under Suzanne Stabile, leads a two-day Type Discovery Workshop each season and an eight-week class called Understanding You: An Enneagram Journey. Both are open to anyone, with sliding-scale pricing to keep cost from being a barrier.
Senior Adult Ministry
The Senior Adult Ministry, known as SAM, has been part of Hyde Park Community for decades. Programming is designed for those sixty and over and centers on fellowship, learning, and spiritual growth. Rev. Kevin Buckley, Pastor of Congregational Care, oversees the ministry.
First Friday Fellowship meets eight months of the year, from September through December and February through May, in the Welcome Center. Social time begins at 11:00 a.m., lunch is served at noon (reservations required, $10), and a program begins at 1:00 p.m. and is free to attend. Past programs have included musical performances, such as the Ron Purdon Quintet's Christmas jazz program.
Strength, Balance, and Flexibility, a low-impact exercise class led by Mary Pearce, meets Mondays from 11:15 a.m. to noon in the Choir Room on the second floor.
Music as the Voice of God
The Music Ministry at HPCUMC is built around the conviction that sacred music is, in the church's own words, "The Voice of God." The Cathedral Choir, a forty-plus-voice ensemble with Choral Scholars anchoring each section, sings at the 9:30 a.m. service from September through June. Rehearsals are Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Childcare is provided during both rehearsal and Sunday mornings. No prepared audition is required, but previous choral experience is recommended.
The Wesley Choir, twenty-five voices strong, brings anthems and offertories to the 8:00 a.m. service. Rehearsals are Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., and singers of all ages are welcome. One Accord, a low-voice ensemble directed by Dr. Ric Bowen, specializes in four-part bass clef choral music and sings in services periodically throughout the year.
The Praise Team, led by Aimee Stockdale, leads the 11:00 a.m. service almost every Sunday of the year, guiding the congregation in a variety of contemporary music and welcoming new singers and instrumentalists by audition.
The Carillon Choir brings the sound of Schulmerich handbells and chimes to all three Sunday services on select Sundays, rehearsing on Monday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Queen City Bronze, a professional handbell ensemble founded in 2008 by former handbell director Jennifer Cauhorn, rehearses at the church and performs concerts throughout the year. The HPCUMC Community Band, a multi-generational ensemble of instrumentalists, offers anthems twice a year.
At the heart of the music program is the Casavant organ. Built in 1990 by Casavant Frères of Quebec, it has 88 ranks and 4,843 pipes, divided between the gallery (44 stops, 63 ranks) and the chancel (18 stops, 25 ranks). A 2015 console upgrade in honor of Dr. Olga Platz doubled the organ's memory and added a set of chimes to the gallery division.
The Organ Concert Series, now in its eighteenth season, has brought organists from around the world to Hyde Park, including past performers such as Paul Jacobs, Olivier Latry, Thomas Trotter, and Karol Mossakowski. The series is free to the public and supported entirely by private donations. Past seasons have featured organ and trumpet duos, an organ collaboration with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, and themed organ duets.
Service on the Third Saturday
Super Serve Saturday brings families, multiple generations, and people of all backgrounds together on the third Saturday of each month, September through May, to serve throughout Cincinnati. There is something for each age and ability, and childcare is available for younger children.
Partner projects include the New Life Furniture Bank, where teams build and assemble kitchen tables, coffee tables, and side tables for families transitioning out of homelessness. Other teams sort and pack donations upstairs. The Center for Respite Care, a health-focused ministry partner caring for homeless individuals with medical needs, receives a meal each month that volunteers prepare at home and drop off. Habitat for Humanity's Shalom Coalition is another ongoing partner, with HPCUMC as one of its founding members since 1998; the coalition builds an interfaith home each year, and the church also supports the Habitat ReStore and Rock the Block neighborhood days.
Wesley Chapel Mission Center, located in Over-the-Rhine, offers after-school tutoring and a summer camp; volunteers work with children in the STAR Club (Science, Technology, Arithmetic, and Reading) program.
Meals on Wheels is a long-standing partner. The annual Bust-a-Crust fundraiser, hosted by HPCUMC, packs and prepares thousands of pies to benefit seniors in the community, with proceeds going to support older adults in southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky.
The Love Thy Neighbor Project, born from a Thanksgiving Baskets Ministry that ran for thirty-three years and distributed 13,736 food boxes, now celebrates Easter. On Palm Sunday, more than 100 volunteers gather in the church parking lot to pack food boxes for hundreds of families in partnership with local schools, churches, and community organizations. The boxes are distributed to Rothenberg Preparatory Academy, Riverside Academy, Riverview East Academy, Spencer Center, and a network of other partners, with each box costing about $50 to assemble.
Global Outreach
Hyde Park Community UMC maintains partnerships with five global ministries. In Mexico, the church supports Tijuana Christian Mission, an orphanage with campuses in Tijuana and Rosarito, and Women with Purpose, Tijuana's first women's shelter. The church's financial support funds two psychologists who work with children and teens at TCM.
In Haiti, the church partners with Faith Academy in Croix de Bouquets, a school educating and feeding over 500 children a day. Hyde Park helped fund a building expansion that doubled enrollment from 300 to 500 students and continues to support teacher salaries for seventh through ninth grades.
In Romania, the church holds an In Mission Together partnership with Way of Faith United Methodist Church in Cluj-Napoca. Together they helped transform a hotel into Meeting Point, a community center that houses Casa Filip for cancer patients, supports Alfa Grup's work with orphans, hosts the Raza Project for young adults who have aged out of the orphan system, and provided refuge to over 160 Ukrainians fleeing the war. Sarah Putman, who served on staff at HPCUMC from 2013, has been a missionary in Romania since 2019, working with Alfa Grup and the Way of Faith UMC.
The fifth global partner is Samara UMC in Russia, the largest Methodist congregation in the country. The church has hosted mission teams and supported Samara UMC's purchase of a permanent building for outreach to women, children, teenagers, young adults, and those experiencing homelessness.
Grace on Race Street: A Second Campus in Over-the-Rhine
In 2024, the church sensed a call to reimagine ministry at its Over-the-Rhine campus at 1310 Race Street, a building constructed in 1880 for what was then Nast Trinity United Methodist Church and designed by Samuel Hannaford, the architect of Cincinnati's Music Hall. The discernment process produced a new name, Grace on Race Street, and a new vision: a hub of connection, innovation, and care rooted in the values of curiosity, courage, and connection.
The first emerging ministry was the First Saturday Community Breakfast, which began in October 2024. Each month, more than 150 people gather from 7:30 to 10:00 a.m. for a free hot meal with coffee and the signature cinnamon roll. The Grace on Race St. Market, held on select Saturdays, brings local artisans and small businesses to a vendor market on the same block as Washington Park, with ten percent of each vendor's sales going to support the development of a community laundromat next door. Other offerings include MidWeek Flow Yoga, retreats, and workshops.
Plans are underway to transform the building next door at 1314 Race Street into transitional housing for eight families in partnership with Found House Interfaith Housing Network, with a community laundromat on the first floor.
The Hyde Park campus also partners with Found House, serving as a host congregation for up to four families at a time for four to five weeks each year. Volunteers set up rooms, provide meals, sleep overnight in private rooms, and serve as hosts, with families arriving by bus at 5:00 p.m. and leaving for the Day Center at 6:45 a.m.
Other community partners include Madisonville Education Assistance Center (MEAC), which provides financial assistance and a choice food pantry; New Life Furniture Bank, which provides household furnishings; State Avenue UMC in Price Hill, where volunteers help with Family Worship; and Rothenberg Preparatory Academy, where mentors meet weekly with students on reading and math. HPCUMC is in its fourteenth year of partnership with Rothenberg.
Care, Prayer, and Pastoral Support
The Care and Prayer ministries at HPCUMC surround members with practical and spiritual support. Stephen Ministers provide confidential, one-on-one emotional and spiritual care for those going through difficult times. The Caring Meals ministry provides meals to members and attenders during times of medical need, surgery, birth or adoption, or bereavement; volunteers can sign up to deliver a meal or contribute freezer meals made on assembly days.
The Intercessory Prayer Group and Electronic Prayer Chain lift up prayer requests sent to prayerministry@hpcumc.org. The Prayer Shawl Ministry meets the second and fourth Tuesdays from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in Room 205; each shawl is knit or crocheted with prayers for the recipient and then blessed by the team. A permanent outdoor prayer labyrinth is located outside the chapel at the corner of Observatory and Meier.
The Congregational Care and Grief Support ministry maintains contact with members who are homebound, in nursing facilities, hospitals, or hospice, coordinates funeral planning, and provides initial grief support. Rev. Kevin Buckley oversees this work.
Spiritual Direction is offered by Christine McHenry, a retired academic pediatrician and graduate of the Academy for Spiritual Formation, and Roger Johanningman, who also practices at the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the Jesuit Spiritual Center at Milford.
Life Events: Weddings, Baptisms, Funerals
The Gothic sanctuary, which seats 450, and the chapel, which seats 90, host weddings throughout the year. All marriages at HPCUMC follow the United Methodist Book of Worship's "Service of Christian Marriage," and reservations are confirmed upon receipt of fees. Weddings are not scheduled between Palm Sunday and Easter, Thanksgiving weekend, or the weeks before and after Christmas. Wedding music is led by Brenda Portman, Resident Organist, who has the right of first refusal to play the Casavant organ and may also play the chapel's piano; all music in the ceremony is performed live. Joni Welsh serves as Wedding Liaison.
Baptisms are held at any of the three Sunday services, with the family meeting the presiding minister for a pre-baptism session to discuss the sacrament and answer questions. Infants, children, teens, and adults may be baptized, with baptismal garments optional.
Funerals and memorial services are coordinated through the Pastoral Care staff. Rev. Kevin Buckley is the primary contact for end-of-life planning, grief counseling, and the implementation of Christian funerals, memorial services, and celebrations of life.