AN OUT-OF-TOWNER VISITS THE METHODIST
MISSIONS CENTENARY, 1919
Airplanes and dirigibles, exotic animals, fireworks, live stage shows, a carnival, parades, a Wild West show, a 100 piece all-trombone choir, and a gargantuan 150' tall movie screen don't sound much like Sunday School but that was the scene when Methodists staged a colossal month-long world's fair at The Ohio State Fairgrounds in the summer of 1919. The Methodist Mission Centenary drew tens of thousands of American Methodists to Columbus. The Centenary intended to celebrate a century of Methodist missionary activities, Allied victory in the World War, and the passage of Prohibition while calling Methodists to rise to the challenges and opportunities of the new century.
W.F.P., from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a worshipper at the newly built St. Paul's United Methodist Church, traveled the 400 miles from his hometown to Columbus at the beginning of July 1919.
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