Religion in Brief SOUTH THOMASTON: CHURCH MILESTONE

The Finnish Congregational Church celebrated its 100th anniversary last month. Founded as a mission station in 1907, it continues to be used by the descendants of the original congregants. In a letter to the congregation, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe called the anniversary, “a remarkable milestone. Renowned Congregational minister Henry Ward Beecher once wrote, ‘it is not the going out of port, but the coming in, that determines the success of a voyage. For a century, our church has been a port of a spiritual kind and a haven of hope which has engendered good will and good works for which we are forever grateful.” The church and the parsonage were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. Both are frame buildings erected in 1921 and in 1937, respectively. The church was the first religious building erected by the Finnish community in Knox County. The celebration on Oct. 21 also highlighted the recent completion of a new foundation. The structure was moved to put a cement foundation underneath the building. Plans call for the basement fellowship hall, including a kitchen and bathrooms, to be completed by next summer.