Spring Valley Mennonite Church (Canton, Kansas, USA)
The first Mennonite settlers in southern McPherson County, Kansas, arrived in 1871. They were soon followed by others from states further east and other locations in Kansas. They met in homes for worship. Bishop Henry Yother served the first communion service in December 1872.
Bishop Daniel Brundage donated land on the southeast corner of his farm for a small meetinghouse in 1875; it was 24 feet by 32 feet in size. The building also served as a school for a time. The congregation constructed a larger meetinghouse in 1892. It bore the name "Old Mennonite Church" to distinguish itself from the area churches built for recent Mennonite immigrants from South Russia. However, it was generally known as the Spring Valley congregation. Two anterooms were added in 1911. In 1946, the meetinghouse was moved, placed over a basement, with an addition on the east end.
Sunday school began at Spring Valley around 1890, also about the time the language of worship changed to English. A sewing circle for women began about 1918.
Bishop Brundage organized the first Kansas-Nebraska Mennonite Conference. After the reorganization of the Mennonite Church (MC) conferences in 1920, this became the Missouri-Kansas Mennonite Conference, later named the South Central Mennonite Conference.
During World War I, Spring Valley's pastor, Charles Diener, was tarred and feathered twice. One time was for discouraging members from buying war bonds, and the second time for taking down a flag placed at the church by local citizens critical of Mennonites.
Bibliography
Erb, Paul. South Central Frontiers: a history of the South Central Mennonite Conference. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1974: 170, 221-232.
"A retired Kansas pastor...." Gospel Herald 84, no. 4 (22 January 1991): 12.
Additional Information
Address: 2896 Frontier Road, Canton, Kansas 67428
Telephone: 620-628-4818
Website: https://www.springvalleymennonite.org/
Denominational Affiliations:
LMC: a Fellowship of Anabaptist Churches
Pastoral Leaders at Spring Valley Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Daniel Brundage (1812-1895)(Bishop) | 1873-1889 |
| Jacob Holdeman (?-1911) | 1874-1889 |
| Matthias Cooprider (1836-1920) | 1885-1894? |
| John Kornhaus (1827-1889) | 1886-1889 |
| Benjamin "B. F." Hamilton (1825-1898)(Bishop) | 1887-1898 |
| John "Henry" Loucks (1857-1936) | 1889-1890? |
| Christian "C. W." Miller (1853-1957) | 1890-1907 |
| Daniel A. Diener (1856-1934) | 1890?-1934 |
| George R. Brunk (1871-1938)(Bishop) | 1898-1907 |
| George B. Landis (1863-1928) | 1906-1912 |
| Daniel "D. S." Brunk (1857-1943) | 1910s-1921? |
| Daniel H. Bender (1866-1945)(Bishop) | 1912-1925 |
| John L. Brubaker (1844-1924) | 1916?-1918? |
| Charles Diener (1890-1992) | 1917-1960 |
| Joseph G. Hartzler (1880-1978)(Bishop) | 1925-1952 |
| Edward Selzer (1895-1979) | 1935-1960 |
| Rollin J. Yoder (1919-2008) | 1960-1962 |
| James Hershberger (1930-1993) | 1964-1972 |
| Daryl E. Miller (1945-1986) | 1973?-1976 |
| Allen White A. (1912-2003) | 1974-1976 |
| Roy E. Sauder (1912-2003)(Interim) | 1977-1979 |
| Roy L. Bender | 1979?-1985 |
| Bradley B. Penner | 1984-1992? |
| Frank J. Willems (1919-2015) | 1993-2002? |
| Loyal Martin | 2002?-2006? |
| H. Bruce Anthony | 2006?-2008? |
| Galen Penner | 2008?-2013? |
| David L. Norris | 2013- |
Spring Valley Mennonite Church Membership
| Year | Members |
|---|---|
| 1878 | 18 |
| 1907 | 81 |
| 1915 | 65 |
| 1920 | 72 |
| 1930 | 65 |
| 1940 | 87 |
| 1950 | 66 |
| 1960 | 61 |
| 1970 | 67 |
| 1980 | 72 |
| 1990 | 59 |
| 2000 | 33 |
| 2009 | 34 |
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By Charles Diener. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 602. All rights reserved.
Spring Valley Mennonite Church (MC), located 2 miles east and 3 miles south of Canton, McPherson County, Kansas, is a member of the South Central Conference, and the oldest of the four MC congregations in central Kansas. It was organized by Bishop Daniel Brundage in 1873, who also organized the three other churches, namely, the Catlin Mennonite Church near Peabody in 1876, the West Liberty Mennonite Church near Inman in 1883, and the Pennsylvania Mennonite Church near Newton in 1885. Brundage also organized the Kansas-Nebraska Mennonite Conference in 1876, which later came to be the Missouri-Kansas Conference but now is called the South Central Conference. In 1957 Charles Diener was pastor, with a membership of 59.
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | March 2026 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Spring Valley Mennonite Church (Canton, Kansas, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. March 2026. Web. 16 Apr 2026. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Spring_Valley_Mennonite_Church_(Canton,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=181893.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (March 2026). Spring Valley Mennonite Church (Canton, Kansas, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2026, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Spring_Valley_Mennonite_Church_(Canton,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=181893.
©1996-2026 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.