Greenwood Church received its start in October 1865.

Harrison Reed and his wife came from Littleton, Illinois to Franklin County, Kansas to live on a farm which they had bought from a woman named Thorp of the Sac and Fox Indian Tribe.  This farm consisted of 640 acres of land located on the South Bank of the Marais des Cygne River in Greenwood Township.

Mr. and Mrs. Reed were members of a Baptist church in Littleton, so they put their church letters in the First Baptist Church in Ottawa.  Mr. Reed was an ordained Deacon and he began immediately to hunt for Christian people so that they might organize a church in Greenwood.  Deacon Reed gladly opened his new house to the community and Sunday School was held there.  Later, preaching services were started.  In fair weather, services were held under the shade of an Oak tree, west of the house.  This place is just west of the church and known as the Meagher farm.

Greenwood Baptist Church was organized July 10, 1870 by Reverend I. Hetrick who served the church as Pastor for 19 years.  It had 10 constituent members.  Many were taken into the church the first year.

The weather was no deterrent to the converts as they were baptized in the Marais des Cygnes River, regardless of conditions.  Sometimes the ice was thick enough for the congregation to stand on.  On one occasion, a team of horses and wagons were driven on a pond for the singers and a hole was cut in the ice for the baptism.  The preacher and candidates descended a ladder into the water.

Deacon Reed gave the land for the church and cemetery and the church was erected in 1871.  Fred Miller was the dead carpenter.  It was built with mostly volunteer work and from native lumber which was sawed a short way up the river at the sawmill.

Greenwood Church was the first house dedicated to the service of God in the Miami Association.  It was valued at $1200.00.  The Miami Association met with Greenwood Church at its 4th Annual Meeting on September 6, 1872.  Again, on September 8, 1876; September 18, 1894 and once after 1900.

There was no railroad, and the road from Ottawa followed a trail which was probably and Indian Trial, as the Government Indian Agency and Trading Post was located ½ mile west of the church.  The old Burlington Trail crossed the Marais des Cygnes at a point one mile east from where the bridge now is located.  Then it went south and west where the church stands.  The church was build facing the trail, the reason the church sets a little to the northwest.

The firsts seats were home-made, a sort of box affair with straight board backs and were set on either side of the church, leaving a wide aisle down the center.  A big stove set well to the back in the aisle space and the flue hung from the rafters by brackets.  The church was lit by kerosene bracket lamps, set along the walls by the window, on either side.  As long as Deacon Reed lived, he took care of the lamps and the fire.  There was a raised platform in the front of the church for the singers and for the melodeon which they carried from the Reed home.  The pulpit was a step up from that. 

It was an established custom for the men to sit on the east side of the church and the women sat on the west side.  Most of the men chewed tobacco so the women would put cans along the wall so they would not get the floor dirty.

People were very poor and had only what they could raise and very little market for that.  The Preacher was paid from $45.00 to $75.00 per year and many of the preached at 3 or 4 places.

Some changes have been made during the past 100 years, but the original structure still stands.  A vestibule was added, and a platform across the front has replaced the high pulpit.  The present seats were brought from Garnett on hayracks around 1900.  Interested members refinished them in 1970.

Gasoline lamps replaced the kerosene lamps and about 1948 the church and community received electricity from the Coffey County Rural Electric Co-op Association.  The Sunday School Room was built in 1958.  In 1964, due to termites or dry rot in the sills, a partial ne floor was laid and the entire church floor sanded and refinished.

An organ replaced the melodeon and a piano replaced the organ.  The present piano was purchased in 1970 and dedicated in memory of Edith Reed.

About 1940 Mr. and Mrs. George Young, members of Greenwood, presented the church with the pulpit and bell from the old Moravian Mission Church which was on their farm.  A belfry was built and the bell installed.  It was dedicated on Easter Sunday, 1942.  Due to leakage around the belfry, it was taken down in 1968, and both bell and pulpit were presented to the Historical Museum in Ottawa by Greenwood Church.

The present pulpit and communion table are from the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church.  Some of the members from that church have joined and worship or attend Greenwood Church.

Membership has fluctuated during the years.  A large number of conversions were recorded each year.  The church as a splendid growth and made an excellent showing the first 20 or 25 years.  Records show the highest number of members (164) in 1894.  After 1900 it was weakened by continued transferals or deaths.  Only 55 members were reported in 198.  At the present time (1971) the church has about 60 members.

In the spring of 1967 Greenwood became a part of the West Franklin Parish.

For many years the church was pastored by Ottawa University Students.  Many of these students have become prominent Baptist pastors and leaders throughout the nation.  Some have been missionaries to foreign fields.

There have been a few weddings and many funerals in the church.  Most of the early day members are buried in the cemetery; Deacon Reed and wife; Reverend Hetrick and wife; the Graves; Millers, Conners, Luttons; Reeds; Pruetts; Fitzgeralds; Davis and Lawsons, just to name a few.  The first grave in the Greenwood Cemetery was Laura Reed, Harrisons Reed’s granddaughter, infant daughter of Washington and Daisy (Lutton) Reed who died in March 1871.

This church has been a testimonial to the faith and courage of those early day church members.  Some of the descendants of these pioneers, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great, great grandchildren are still members and active in the church.

“Truly the rest from their labors and their works do follow them.”

Researched and Compiled by   Louise Reed Van Horn   1971