A New Way of Hope Weddings 

From the outside, Trinity Lutheran Church is distinct and spiritually inspiring.

Hand-chiseled sandstone covers the exterior. The rock was quarried from the Massillon area, with no two pieces alike. The words of a hymn by Martin Luther are carved into the stone facade: “A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD.”

Inside the church, the character and architecture are even more impressive.

A path laid of Italian marble leads to the altar. Most visually stunning is a massive stained-glass window, comprised of 1,500 individual pieces and bejeweled with a rainbow of colors. The window depicts Jesus blessing young children.

Steve Coon, a local developer and preservationist, considers the illuminated stained-glass window and the entire church to be works of art. That’s the reason he purchased the building, which closed last year due to declining membership. The chapel will be rented out for wedding services.

“When you walk through it ... it has the awe factor,” said Coon, owner of Coon Restoration & Sealants in Nimishillen Township.

“I felt if I didn’t (acquire it) there’s nobody else coming forward to say I’d like to buy that,” he said. “It was just too good of a church and had too good of bones to walk away from — I had a responsibility.”

Chuck Schuster, managing partner of the Canton Club Event Center, will book the weddings while offering to cater receptions at the historic Canton Club in Chase Tower in downtown Canton.

“It really made sense,” said Coon, who owns or part-owns some other downtown properties, including Chase Tower and the former Martin Luther Lutheran Church site on Walnut Avenue NE. “Now we’re a one-stop church.”

Schuster agrees. “We just felt it was a natural tie-in with the historical nature of the Canton Club and the historical nature of the church.”

RICH IN HISTORY

Trinity Lutheran was designed by the late Guy Tilden.Completed in 1886, Trinity Lutheran was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1980s. The sanctuary holds about 350 people. Prior to closing, the church averaged about 40 people at Sunday services.