East Liverpool church to become community center
A landmark church in East Liverpool will undergo a transformation. It's a project designed to benefit the entire community.

EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio - A landmark church in East Liverpool will undergo a transformation. It's a project designed to benefit the entire community.
For more than five decades Trinity Church on Maine Boulevard has been known as the church on the hill. Its striking architectural design has received national recognition.
A declining population has reduced the congregation from several hundred to fewer than 200. So under an agreement reached in December, the church is being donated to a local non-profit foundation and transformed into a community activity center.
"Activities for people of all ages, and it's going to be more than just East Liverpool," said Charles Lang, President of the HHH Foundation. "It will include the surrounding area, and looking at the census information it looks like about 50,000 people reside in this area, and that certainly justifies a community center"
Donated funds will make needed renovations to the building. The 250 seat dining hall and the 1,000 seat sanctuary will be air conditioned. The sanctuary will become a multi-purpose theater.
"We hope to have kiddie matinees on Saturday and Sunday, and maybe other movie events as well," said Lang.
The space will also be available for concerts and other live events and performances.
Pastor Steve Cramer says the size of the church is just too much for the small congregation to maintain, but he expects the church members to be very active in the new community center.
"This is a congregation that has been very civic minded from the very beginning so we will I'm sure be very involved in the life of the community center, said Cramer.
Lang says plans also call for a teen zone for young people and a place for senior citizens to gather and socialize.
"It's really exciting. It's going to really help re-establish the social functions and social activities in the community," Lang said.
The Trinity congregation will be moving to a new, as yet undetermined location, and the community center is expected to open in May.