Mechanic Grove Mennonite Church (Quarryville, Pennsylvania, USA)
As Mennonite families moved into less populated areas of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, they initiated Sunday schools and preaching services for emerging communities. In 1877, Amos Herr preached in a vacant shop in the village of Mechanic Grove. Two years later, the group rented a Baptist church, and in 1881, they built their own small meetinghouse, which was dedicated on 13 April 1882. The building was struck by lightning later that year, but did not suffer much damage. The meetinghouse served the congregation until 1949, when the congregation remodeled and enlarged the facility. The building was rededicated on 3 December 1949.
The congregation was affiliated with the Lancaster Mennonite Conference, and in its early years was served by other ministers of that conference's Pequea District.
Initially, services were held at Mechanic Grove every four weeks; however, by 1915, they were held every two weeks. By 1940, the congregation held weekly worship services.
In 1909, preacher John Swarr, who had been ordained in 1903, was silenced or left the Mechanic Grove congregation and established an independent congregation that used the same building. In 1914, Swarr affiliated with the Calvary Mennonite Church in Quarryville, and assisted in pastoral leadership of that congregation, which became part of the General Conference Mennonite Church.
Bibliography
Miller, Amos B. "From Lancaster Co., Pa." Herald of Truth 19, no. 18 (15 September 1882): 282.
"New meeting house." Herald of Truth 19, no. 8 (15 April 1882): 122.
"Rededication services for the Mechanic Grove Mennonite Church...." Gospel Herald 42, no. 48 (29 November 1949): 1180.
Ruth, John L. The Earth is the Lord's: a narrative history of the Lancaster Mennonite Conference. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 2001: 634, 1138-1169.
Weaver, Martin G. Mennonites of Lancaster Conference: containing biographical sketches of Mennonite leaders, histories of congregations, missions, and Sunday schools, record of ordinations, and other interesting historical data. Scottdale, PA: Mennonite Publishing House, 1931. Reprinted Ephrata, PA: Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church Publication Board, 1982: 63-64, 80, 401. Available in full electronic text at https://archive.org/details/mennonitesoflanc00weav_0/page/n3/mode/2up.
Additional Information
Address: 735 Church Road, Quarryville, Pennsylvania 17566
Telephone: 717-786-4730
Website: https://mechanicgrovemc.org/
Denominational Affiliations:
LMC: a Fellowship of Anabaptist Churches
Mennonite Church USA (Until 2017)
Pastoral Leaders at Mechanic Grove Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| District ministers | 1881-1888 |
| Tobias Brubaker (1842-1906) | 1888-1906 |
| John W. Swarr (1872-1935) | 1903-1909 |
| John B. Myers (1875-1941) | 1907-1941 |
| Abraham D. Metzler (1880-1964) | 1916-1964 |
| Paul B. Myer (1911-1981) | 1941-1981 |
| Jacob "J. Harold" Breneman (1912-1994) | 1965-1973? |
| Abram "A. Clyde" Hostetter (1908-2001) | 1966-1973? |
| Clayton L. Keener (1902-1982)(Bishop) | 1972?-1982 |
| Ellis D. Kreider (1926-2017) | 1974-1990? |
| Larry E. Burkhart | 1984-1990? |
| Jay L. Ranck (1946-2017) | 1991-2010 |
| William E. Hershey | 1993-2004 |
| Wayne E. Kreider | 1995-2025 |
| Jay "J. Kenneth" Hershey (1943-2024) | 2005-2022 |
| Scott Breneman | 2017- |
| Paul D. Williams | 2023- |
Mechanic Grove Mennonite Church Membership
| Year | Members |
|---|---|
| 1881 | 20 |
| 1915 | 60 |
| 1920 | 78 |
| 1930 | 65 |
| 1940 | 108 |
| 1950 | 117 |
| 1960 | 157 |
| 1970 | 164 |
| 1980 | 131 |
| 1990 | 91 |
| 2000 | 94 |
| 2009 | 65 |
Original Mennonite Encyclopedia Article
By Ira D. Landis. Copied by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 547. All rights reserved.
Mechanic Grove Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church (MC)), a member of the Lancaster Conference, and is located near a small rural town by this name, four miles south of Quarryville, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When members began to move into this formerly Scottish-Irish area services were desired. In 1877 Amos Herr preached in the village. The 20 members in the fall of 1881 built a frame structure 46 x 35 ft., which served the congregation until 1949, when it was extensively remodeled and enlarged. In 1954 Abram D. Metzler and J. Harold Breneman were serving as ministers, with a membership of 149. In 1920 a schism occurred, led by John W. Swarr, a preacher who led the group into the General Conference Mennonite Church. This group, called the Calvary Mennonite Church, had 57 members in 1954.
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | September 2025 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Mechanic Grove Mennonite Church (Quarryville, Pennsylvania, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. September 2025. Web. 2 Feb 2026. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mechanic_Grove_Mennonite_Church_(Quarryville,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=181229.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (September 2025). Mechanic Grove Mennonite Church (Quarryville, Pennsylvania, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 2 February 2026, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mechanic_Grove_Mennonite_Church_(Quarryville,_Pennsylvania,_USA)&oldid=181229.
©1996-2026 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.