Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — A celebration of the 120th anniversary of the Hungarian Presbyterian Church and Calvin Center on Mahoning Avenue will take place Sept.18.

Diane E. Morse Nemeth, a lifelong member of the church since 1949, said the church, which is close to downtown Youngstown, was founded to serve the Youngstown and surrounding areas with worship services in Hungarian and English.

She said “This was a group of Europeans seeking religious, reformed freedoms and later in 1956 political and basic human rights freedoms.”

The church worked to support a resettlement for many European and Vietnamese people starting in 1956 and ending in 2010.

In addition, the Calvin Center provided funeral dinners and was rented out to other denominational churches, groups, plays and even the Youngstown Orchestra.

Nemeth said a booklet on the church’s history and memorial pages for past family members, along with photos, will be available by the Bible Study Group.

She said a condemned public West Side school was purchased by the church to provide the land and site for building the Calvin Center with educational classrooms, a large gymnasium, stage, office space and Christian chapel.

The construction was done during the 1930s and 1940s with a debt of $175,000, which was paid off by 1955 through volunteer work of church members, tithes and “God’s grace.”

Nemeth said the Calvin Center was sold in 2010 due to large utility bills and a shrinking congregation.

She said the maximum church membership at one time was 800.

”Our services are in the English language with Hungarian services no longer provided. This is a fantastic, cultural experience since Hungarian is still spoken by members. Thanksgiving is an ecumenical service with other Hungarian churches in our area,” Nemeth said.

The large “Ten Commandments” wooden display is written in Hungarian and English as is the Scripture written on the wall behind the altar.

Nemeth said the church has “a wonderful history of endurance right through the Great Depression of the 1930s and now with the pandemic.”

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