News release concerning the Ground Breaking

Ground-breaking for a new church home for the congregation of Viola United Presbyterian Church, took place on Sunday afternoon, September 18, 2005, on land at the southeast edge of Viola. The church's pastor, Rev. Shirley Barnum, led the 3:00 ceremony. The new site is on the east side of South Grice Street (Highway 49). The new home for the congregation will have the Sanctuary and fellowship areas all on the main floor, with no steps, enabling more people to enter for Worship and other activities.

A nice crowd of about 50 people attended the ground-breaking. Most were from the congregation, but also included were Rev. Don Owens, General Presbyter of the Presbytery of Southern Kansas; Russell Davisson, Presbytery lawyer; Viola Mayor Ronda Mollenkamp and two Town Council members, Everett Donham and John Bates; Wichita ministers Don Calderwood and Gerald Hallberg, who have been pulpit supply at various times, and their wives; and others from the town and area. Ice tea and cookies were served back at the present church afterwards.

In the spring of 1876 a petition was given to then Presbytery of Neosho for a United Presbyterian Church to be organized in the Peotone area northwest of what is now Viola, Kansas. The organization was completed on December 26 of that same year, and the church was given the name Ninnescah. For awhile the congregation met in homes and then for two years in the Peotone School. The lumber for the first building, constructed in 1880 at Peotone, was $400.  For the most part, those in the congregation were young people who had come west to establish homes and rear their children.

The church was moved to Viola in 1886, just south of its present location at Jessup and Railroad, and remained there for over 30 years. In 1904 the name of the congregation was changed to Viola, and the name of the Post Office changed from Peotone to Viola. This was after the construction of the Santa Fe railroad, and the location of the town site of Viola. In August of 1918, after due reflection, the congregation voted not to remodel the old building, but to construct a new one. This was done and the church was dedicated Sept. 21, 1919. For 86 years the building served well for the congregation and the community.