KENT METHODIST

A new brick Methodist church was built in 1896 at the cost of $3,000.   The church was at the corner of Berwick and Oak streets.   The crowning touch of the new church was a bell donated by Fred Westerbeck and J. L. Wells.   It was said the church bell could be heard for a distance of up to 4 miles. During the years before telephones, the clapper on the side of the bell was struck nine times for the death of a man or six times for the death of a woman, followed by a toll for each year of the age of the decedent.   By this means people could surmise who may have died in the community.  The bell was also rung on the half hour and 15 minutes before church services and on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the Fourth of July and for fires and other emergencies.   A parsonage was built across the street in 1912.   The church closed in 1964 and was torn down in 1974.   The church basement was used as a gathering place and community center.