Oxford Charter Township issued the following announcement on Nov 25.
One of the great things about living in a community like Oxford is the history. It seems like everywhere you go, there's a piece of the past just waiting to be explored, uncovered or rediscovered.
With its beautiful bell tower and stained glass windows, the 125-year-old Thomas United Methodist Church building is a classic example of a small-town house of worship. The church is located at 504 First St. in Thomas, an unincorporated village tucked away in northern Oxford Township, just east of M-24, near the Lapeer/Oakland county line.
When the church was established in 1893, its members gathered regularly at a local hall. They worshiped there until Monday, May 25, 1896 when a killer tornado (or cyclone) ripped through the area and devastated the villages of Thomas and Oakwood. All that remained of the hall was the floor.
"The following Sunday evening, services were held on that floor with the sky (serving) as a roof." – Thomas UMC History, 2018
After the storm, the congregation immediately went to work and erected the church building that's still in use today. The structure was completed and dedicated by December 1896. A Methodist church in Lapeer that was being refurnished provided the pews and pulpit furnishings for the new Thomas church.
"The church was furnished then as it is today." – Thomas UMC History, 2018
For those wondering why the village is named "Thomas," the “History of Oakland County, Michigan, Volume I" – written by Thaddeus D. Seeley and published in 1912 – has the answer. Seeley wrote, "Soon after the building of the Detroit & Bay City (railroad line), there was a demand for a station and a village in the northern portion of (Oxford Township's) section 4 . . . John Thomas platted the eighteen acres on the west half of the northwest quarter of that section in December 1873 (and the village) has since borne his name."
Original source can be found here.
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