SOUTH MONTROSE, Pa. — Inside the Susquehanna County Historical Society in Montrose, curator Betty Smith shows off the newest piece of the collection – a red and white handmade quilt hand-stitched by the Ladies Aid Society of the South Montrose Methodist Episcopal Church, known today as the South Montrose Community Church. But it's not just an ordinary quilt.
"It's 30 stars, and on those eight-pointed 30 stars are the names of the people who contributed 10 cents or more to have their names on the quilt," Smith explained.
In 1937, the ladies made the quilt to help raise money to build the church.
"It wasn't only members of the church that contributed; they were members of the community. If you look at the names on the quilt, you're going to see people from all over Bridgewater Township, Montrose, South Montrose, Dimock. I mean, they contributed to help build this church."
The quit has 576 names. One of them is from the Ellsworth family. They bought the quilt at the fundraiser more than 80 years ago and held onto it for several decades until Mary Gere from South Montrose became its owner.
"She purchased the quilt, and she kept it for another, I'm not sure how many more years, but she felt it should come to the historical society."
Last August, the nearly 80-year-old church was destroyed by a fire, and members now have plans to rebuild it.
Fortunately, the history of the community coming together then is still visible with the names on the quilt.
The quilt was a fundraiser then to help build the church, and now the South Montrose Community Church is having a fundraiser of its own to rebuild it this weekend.
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