CHETOPA — Charles Schaper hopes to have someone look at the former Chetopa United Methodist Church, which he bought in April, to see if the structure is salvageable after fire ravaged the interior on Thursday, Aug. 7.
Schaper said he was returning to Chetopa from Joplin when he heard about the fire, which was called in at 7:19 p.m. Aug. 7.
“It just broke my heart. Just devastated me. I loved that place,” he said. “It was a peaceful, pretty place. … To me, it was just the prettiest church I’d ever seen.”
The building featured stained glass windows and a 30-foot vaulted wood ceiling. Large interior wood beams supported the structure, which was built in 1954.
Upon arrival, Chetopa firefighters reported seeing light smoke from the southeast part of the building
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heavy smoke coming from the east double entry doors, according to Chetopa Fire Chief Justin Nading. The fire started rolling as firefighters got set up. They tried entry, but it was tough going until firefighters vented the building, which reduced the smoke inside.
Nading said fire ran up the south wall and across a vaulted ceiling. The wood there is charred, he said.
The cause is undetermined but not suspicious. The point of origin appears to be the east side of the church, Nading said.
Other fire departments responding were from Oswego, Bartlett, Columbus and Welch, Oklahoma. No injuries were reported.
Nading said the fire was knocked down in a few hours and trucks returned to the station and into service around 11 or 11:20 p.m. Aug. 7. Firefighters returned about 4:20 a.m. Friday, Aug. 8, for a rekindle.
The Chetopa United Methodist Church closed in 2021, according to one post on social media from a reported former parishioner. One of the reasons was membership decline.
Schaper said he missed purchasing the church the first time it came on the market, so he was eager to bid when it came on the market again. He bought it because he loved it, but he didn’t know what he was going to do with it. He considered remodeling it into a residence or an event center. The 10,000 square foot building has a basement that has water damage but no fire damage.
He said he had been slowly clearing out the building, which the previous owner used for storage. Some of the items left were worth keeping, including furniture.
Schaper said he spent some Sundays in the church because of the “peaceful feeling” he had from being in the building, admiring its construction and stained glass windows.
He plans on securing the building, which was not insured, and walking away for a bit before he has the building’s structural integrity assessed. He will decide at that point what to do.
“My heart’s kind of broken with it right now,” Schaper said.
He plans on cleaning the building out and thinks if it checks out, he may rebuild it as a house. He would add 10-foot ceilings instead of rebuilding the 30-foot vaulted look.
While he acknowledges that this was “just a building,” and he owns other properties, this one was different.
“It’s something I just personally liked, so it hurt me a little bit more than normal,” Schaper said.
