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The Rhoad's Meetinghouse, formerly the home of the Vincent Mennonite Church, is located in East Vincent, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The building is known locally as The Meetinghouse. The historical, landmark church building now houses the law firm, The Mayerson Law Offices, P.C., and a museum space and gallery to be known as The imaginAIRium.
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Early: 1719-1750
The site was first settled by John Roth (also known as Johannas Rhoads) in 1719. There he built a house for his family. Remnants of the original building still exist in the inscribed stonework of the present building, which is inscribed with the date “1735".
Based on the inscribed date, 1735 is considered the date of the founding of the Vincent Mennonite Congregation. The first use of the original building as a community meetinghouse dates to 1750. This is recorded by Frederick Sheeder in his 1845 Sketch of Vincent Township, stating: "the meeting house that has allways whent by the name of Rohd’s this meeting house was built in 1750 [for use by] the old Germans nearly all in the neighborhood."
Given the dates, the original meetinghouse and its congregation predate both the American Revolution and the entrance of the first states, Delaware and Pennsylvania, into The Union in 1788. The 1889 building predated four states: New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii.
Middle: 1798-1974
The transfer of the deed from the Rhoad family to the Vincent Mennonite Congregation was not made until 12 June 1798. John Rhoad sold the property and grounds to Henry Acker, Sr., and Jacob Finkbiner, who acted on behalf of the Vincent Mennonite Church, the deed stating: “a lot or piece of land situated in the said Township of Vincent, bounded by lands of John Rhoades, containing two acres more or less…for the sum of five shillings.”
The original, pre-Revolutionary building was razed in 1889, and was replaced the same year by the current building, a stone-and-stucco church re-built just east of the original building.
The Mennonite meetinghouse served as a place of worship and sanctuary, and as a school for the education of the Christian youths for the Vincent Mennonite Congregation. They met in the original building from 1750 until 1889, and in the current building from 1889 until 1974, a total of 224 years. In 1969, the congregation began planning to build a new church.
In 1974, the new church was built nearby on Seven Stars Road, again in East Vincent Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, where the congregation worships currently.
Late: 1974-Today
The 1889 building is located on a rise precisely at the intersection of two historic roads: Mennonite Church Road and Schuylkill Road (PA Route 724).
Since June 1974, the building has served as The Mayerson Law Offices, P.C. Owners Hy Mayerson and Colleen Koos have a “keen sense of history and [are] carefully preserving the historic nature of the old building…”
The building retains the original large internal open space, 33 ft x 53 ft, —free from any visible support beams—as well as the original tin roof and ceiling. The original doors and entranceway continue to be used. The owners preserved the “integrity of that historic structure” by designing the 24 ft. additional building in "the exact same style, windows and all, as the original [portion of the] building." The design and concept for the addition was developed by Carl Massara, A.I.A. The Mayerson Law Offices have since given birth to many other law offices. Owner Hy Mayerson is now retiring. After a historical 22 decades as the Vincent Mennonite Church, a four decade historical legal precedence as The Mayerson Law Offices, The Meetinghouse now awaits its new owner.
Cemetery
The Vincent Mennonite Church continues its ownership of the serene adjoining cemetery, known as Rhoad’s (or Rohd’s, Rhoads, or Rhoades) Burying Grounds. This historic multi-denominational cemetery contains some grave markers dating as far back as 1759 and 1760. Given that people of this time period were often buried on their own land, it is probable that the land was even used as a burying ground as far back as the 1730s. Record shows that owner Johannes Roth (Rhoads), who settled the land in 1719, died in 1738—his wife predeceasing him.
The imaginAIRium
The imaginAIRium is the name of the museum and gallery created, and originally contained, within the Great Hall of The Meetinghouse. The imaginAIRium is intended to be “at the crossroads of creativity, theater, and imagination,” according to creator Hy Mayerson.
Since 1977, the basement vestry and the building’s Great Room have been used as a performances space for national, international, and locally valued musicians including Arvel Bird, Sean Tyrrell, Joseph Salviuolo, Craig Bickhardt, The Mighty Manatees, and Steve Montague. Some of the earliest music videos and independent television productions have been produced here. This work continues at the building today. The site has also been a location for local and national news footage, taken by ABC, NBC, and CBS.
Currently, several works by legendary Chester County artist Melvin Goldfield, M.A., are on display in the gallery of the Great Room, including a life-size gorilla and owl, known as Rosie and Al; hand-carved from English walnut. Several portraits of famous Chester County residents, which previously hung in the Main Hall of the Chester County Courthouse in West Chester, Pennsylvania, are also a part of the display, as well as an original pastel interpretation of Walt Whitman’s poetry collection, Leaves of Grass, and a collection of silk-screens of an aging Whitman.