First Christian Church of Muir

The First Christian Church of Muir was organized as the Disciples of Christ Church of Montrose (before the name was changed to Muir), September 7, 1856. The church was organized by the Rev. Isaac Errett and for the first few years it met in Lyons. It was dedicated by James A Garfield before he became the President of the United States, he being a friend of Rev. Errett.
This building of pine and oak lumber was sawed in local mills and built in 1861. The building is still in use today with an active congregation. The church building, located in Muir at 138 Garden Street, was constructed at a cost of $3,215.06!!! This was at that time a huge sum for those few settlers to raise. In 1868 a bell was purchased for the tower at a cost of $349.86. Installation cost another $35.00! The bell is inspected regularly and is still rung every Sunday morning.
The rectangular building is an excellent example of a frame Gothic Revival Church. The exterior is of boards and batten with octaganical buttresses at each corner, while the sides display Gothic stained glass windows. A gabled roof and bell tower top the building and the belfry is trimmed with a pendant melding below the arched openings. The tall, well remembered spires, atop the tower, were struck by lightning and destroyed many years ago.
There has been an active Ladies Aid as early as 1876. In 1953 the name was changed t the Christian Women's Fellowship-(CWF). The Church name was also changed to First Christian.
A large meeting hall was constructed and dedicated in time for the centennial celebration in 1956. Named for the churches founder, it is called Erret Hall.Bertha Newton worked long and hard to make this building a reality. It is constantly in use for suppers, weddings, meetings and funeral dinners.
Over the years there have been regular painting, roofing, and repairs to keep this very historical building in good shape. It had been placed on both the state and national historic registers. A large planter and historic plaque was then dedicated in 1993.
The interior of the building was stripped bare, insulated, and painted as were all the pews before the 150th celebration on Sept. 7, 2006.

Style Gothic Revival
Narrative Description:
The Muir Church of Christ (First Christian Church of Muir) is a gray-painted, wood-frame Gothic Church, which, clad in board-and-batten siding, has a projecting, centrally positioned, square, entrance tower; Gothic windows with central mullions; and a square, cross-gable-roofed belfry with louvered, Gothic-arch openings. The church is a one-story, rectangular structure and rests on a fieldstone foundation. The sanctuary is a rectangular room with a level ceiling covered with pressed-metal, probably dating from 1906. The four rows of scroll-arm, "sofa" pews are probably original to the church. Built in 1861, Church of Christ is located in a Late Victorian residential neighborhood in the small village of Muir.
Statement of Significance The Muir Church of Christ is significant as the home of the mother church of the Disciples of Christ denomination in the Grand River Valley and of one of Michigan's oldest Disciples of Christ congregations. The church building itself is notable as one of the oldest churches in Michigan built for the Disciples of Christ denomination and as an early Gothic Revival church which retains much of its original sanctuary fittings intact.
Marker Name Church of Christ
Marker Text CHURCH OF CHRIST In 1856 the Reverend Isaac Errett organized Disciples of Christ congregations in Montrose (present-day Muir) and Lyons. Membership grew quickly, and in 1861 this church was built to serve Muir. The board-and-batten Gothic Revival exterior masks a simple meetinghouse interior. In 1881, Errett was the principal speaker at the funeral of his friend President James A. Garfield, who visited Muir in 1862. The Muir Church of Christ is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Period of Significance 1826-1865
Significant Date(s) 1861
Registry Type(s) 01/15/1993 Marker erected
02/17/1983 National Register listed
05/17/1973 State Register listed
Site ID# P23481