"Est. 1819," it reads on the other side, in an engraving style that makes clear it was added in recent decades. My guess is that somebody in the church got peeved that the building was announcing its own history without referencing the history of the congregation that built it.
The congregation has sold the building and moved to a rented space in a nearby stripmall. According to Google Street View, it happened sometime between July 2019 and September 2021. According to an article in the Sandusky Register, the new owners renamed this building the "Commodore Chapel" and converted it to an Airbnb property named the Lost Sailor Inn ("Find yourself at the Lost Sailor Inn," June 25, 2022).
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In Sandusky, Ohio, on June 16th, 2024, was a datestone at the former First Congregational United Church of Christ (originally the First Congregational Church; built of limestone; 82001399 on the National Register of Historic Places) at the northwest corner of Columbus Avenue and West Jefferson Street.
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Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names terms:
• Erie (county) (1002357)
• Sandusky (7015315)
Art & Architecture Thesaurus terms:
• building stone (300011700)
• churches (buildings) (300007466)
• Congregationalism (300153828)
• cornerstones (300002616)
• date stones (300374978)
• engraving (action) (300053829)
• historic buildings (300008063)
• limestone (300011286)
• public accommodations (300164125)
• repurposing (300417716)
Wikidata items:
• 16 June 2024 (Q69307201)
• 1890s in architecture (Q11185467)
• 1895 in architecture (Q2744423)
• Airbnb (Q63327)
• Connecticut Western Reserve (Q1126227)
• Firelands (Q5451878)
• First Congregational Church (Q5452820)
• June 16 (Q2653)
• June 2024 (Q61312789)
• National Register of Historic Places (Q3719)
• Sandusky, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area (Q122839607)
• Treaty of Fort Industry (Q7837057)
• United Church of Christ (Q426316)
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
• Church buildings—Remodeling for other use (sh85025862)
