The below document is in the Crawford County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society Church Records Collection.
Five miles east of Kirkpatrick sits Sixteen United Methodist Church. A one-room sanctuary with no basement or classrooms, Sixteen has greeted its members every Sunday since it was built in 1858. The church was designed with a raised platform across the front for the pastor, organist and choir. Church windows were made narrow and long with plain blue and red glass at the top of the windows. The church was originally heated by an old pot bellied stove, then by an oil burning stove, and later by two propane gas furnaces. The orginal oak benches are still in use. In earlier days men and boys sat on one side, while the ladies and girls sat on the other.
An old-fashioned pump organ was purchased in 1870, and years later a piano was given. In 1921 a vestibule was built and a bell installed. The church was given a sound system, and unfortunately squirrels find a way to chew on the speakers. The name Sixteen came into being in that the church is located in section sixteen of Marion Co. Originally the church was called Sixteen German Methodist, and German was spoken, preached and sung until World War I when the congregation used the English language.
The church has been served by ordained ministers as well as by many lay ministers and student ministers from Methesco in Delaware, Ohio. The church had to wait one hundred twenty-five years before a wedding was ever performed within its walls. An ancestor of one of the founders, Louise Burkhart was united in marriage to Raymond Barr.
