North M.E. Church
The North M.E. Church, located at East Ave and Tompkins, has a long history, which–thanks to John Clark, a descendant of the Zinn family–can be found here.
The church was located very close to the Zinn Lumber Yard (and the Zinn family residence), and the church was damaged in that business’ November 1925 fire. Then the church had its own fire in March 1928, which necessitated a complete rebuilding of the church. Scott Caputo at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, was kind to send us this article about the fire.
The church was slowly but surely rebuilt and enlarged and improved. J. H. Zinn paid to have a children’s wing built, dedicated in memory to his two boys (who died in their youth) in April, 1953. The sons in whose memory the wing was built were Clyde Webster Zinn (22 Oct 1895 – 07 Apr 1912) and Walter Curry Zinn (12 Jun 1898 – 30 Jan 1903). What you see here photo of Clyde Webster Zinn (with his sister Lillian Mae Zinn). The family does not have a photo that they are confident of, for Walter. Here is an article about that philanthropic contribution. [Photo courtesy of John Clark]
Around October 1956, North M. E. Church held a celebration of their “oldest members,” by which they meant those members who had belonged to the church at least 50 years. J. H. Zinn and his wife were among them. (See photo to the right.) You can read more about that event here and see some of the other members in the photos below. [Photos and news clippings courtesy of John Clark]
There’s more information about the Zinn family and the Zinn Lumber Yard elsewhere on this web site.