Karen Perone poses with the timeline depicting the history of Union Avenue United Methodist Church mounted in the church’s Hartshorn hallway. A program detailing the project is scheduled Sept. 15. (Submitted photo)

ALLIANCE — Union Avenue United Methodist Church will officially celebrate the recent installation in the Hartshorn Hallway of a 36-foot panoramic timeline of the church history with a special event on Monday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m., beginning in the sanctuary.

The historic timeline, depicting the church’s history since 1832, was first introduced to the congregation with a ribbon cutting during the June 8 Sunday service.

On Sept. 15, church historian Karen Perone will lead a virtual walk-through of the panels in the hallway describing their significance and why they were selected. From the founding of the village of Mount Union, to three church buildings with expansions and renovations, Perone will explore how the timeline ribbon came to life.

The event is free and open to the public and refreshments will follow in Fellowship Hall.

The hallway timeline was designed by George Laurence of Museum Acrylics Co. of New Philadelphia, and was made possible through Perone’s research with the artistic guidance of Lynda Slack.

Perone, who is also president of the Alliance Historical Society, co-sponsors of the church event, had seen Laurence’s work portfolio and met him at an Ohio Local History Alliance (OLHA) conference. “We invited him to meet with us and we decided this would be a wonderful way to share our story with church members and visitors,” Perone said.

The idea began with the church history book, authored by the church history committee and published in 2022. Key events were extracted, photos from the church’s archives were matched with the events, and descriptive texts were written to describe the images.

The timeline is the final portion of the Hartshorn Hallway project and complements the framed stained glass windows that were installed by church member Rick Sampson last spring on the opposite wall of the hallway.

Laurence, who has had a lifelong fascination with history, took these elements and created the layout and design of the timeline.

Originally from New Jersey, he graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in plastics engineering, and starting in 1980 worked 15 years for Capital Plastics of Maryland.

While working the Washington, D.C. area he was involved in design work for the Smithsonian Museum where he worked on the Enola Gay display among other projects, and the Apollo 11 display at the National Air and Space Museum.

Since moving and starting his company in 1996 to New Philadelphia, he’s done many projects for the Zoar Museum, the Dennison Railroad Depot Museum, the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, and has worked on displays for several pro football teams. He currently is working on a timeline for Ohio’s participation in the America 250 celebration next year.

He said this was the first church project he’s worked on.

The church is located at 1843 S. Union Ave.