ROGERS -- Vandals shattered decades of work in a historic church this week when they broke seven windows in the 1904 structure, caretakers said.
"God's house, this is still God's house," said Jeff Moser as he stared out the back door of Mount Hebron M.E. Church. Shards of glass lay scattered across the floor in the one-room building on the edge of Rogers near Cave Springs.
Moser pointed to a stove he used to light as a child before Sunday services, a job for which he was paid 50 cents. He also reminisced about the church being the site for his brother's funeral, held just months before it closed in the early 1990s.
"It doesn't take much to wipe away a lot of work and money if you want to," Moser said.
The broken windows were discovered Monday morning, Moser said. Another four windows were broken around Memorial Day, he said. The windows haven't been replaced, but are instead covered by plywood.
It isn't the first time vandals have taken an interest in the building, he said. The doors have been broken open several times, he said. A padlock hasn't kept intruders out. A picture of Jesus and an old piano are a few things that have also been damaged in the past.
Moser said it may be impossible to replace the costly window glass.
Cassie Elliott became acquainted with the church soon after she met her husband 24 years ago. Some of her husband's family is buried in a cemetery on the church's property.
"I have a soft heart for historic buildings," Elliot said. "The church was falling apart. Its roof was falling in and the windows were broken."
A campaign to restore the church was started in the mid-1990s, Elliott said.
The Mount Hebron Church & Cemetery Historical Preservation Association was created. The association campaigned to have the church added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 and a $19,272 matching grant was given to the association in 2007 for repair to the building.
The grant was used to repair windows, the roof, foundation and some siding on the building. Insulation also was added and it was painted, Elliott said. It was painted again in 2013, she said.
"Now we apparently have someone who has decided they want to vandalize it," she said. "It has taken many, many years to get the church where it is. Now where do we go? How do we get the funds to make it look right again and make it not be an eye-sore?"
Elliott said the building is vacant because it doesn't have water, sewer service or electricity. Insurance will not cover vandalism because the building is vacant, she said.
The organization has spent its money making sure the building looks presentable from the outside, Elliott said. It hasn't had the money to finish the inside, add utilities or a parking lot to make it usable for public events such as weddings, she said.
The windows in the building are thicker than is typical and are custom-made to meet the time period of the building, she said. She estimated the cost of replacing all of the windows at $20,000.
"I am sickened that someone would find satisfaction doing something like this," Elliott said.
Rick Parker of Parker Conservation of Gentry was contracted to restore the windows in the building in 2008. He estimated the cost of restoring the type of windows at the church to be between $1,500 to $4,000 apiece, depending on the damage.
Glass used in the restoration was either historic or made to look historic, Parker said. It has a wavy appearance.
"The new glass doesn't have the personality that the old glass has," Parker said. "It is wavy, and it reflects light in a million different ways."
Parker said the area can't afford to lose the historic building.
"It is a rare gem," he said. "We don't have a lot of our history left here."
Monte Harris, adult programs assistant for the Rogers Historical Museum, said the church is one of the last -- if not the last -- one-room churches preserved to look how it did when it was built in Benton County.
"It is a strong symbol of those early meeting houses," Harris said. "They were once scattered all over the region."
The building's two front entry doors are an interesting historical feature, Harris said. She said one door was most likely used by women and the other by men.
"It must be left over from when the men and women sat on opposite sides of the church," Harris said.
Elliott is asking the public to stop by the church if they happen to be driving by. A more public presence around the church could possibly deter people from vandalizing it again, she said.
The Roger Police Department also has agreed to step up patrols around the church, Moser said.
NW News on 07/17/2015