When the 20 people who signed the constitution establishing the Lutheran Church of Fairfield on Dec. 20, 1848, they owned no church building. The Lutherans were holding their services in the Methodist Church of Fairfield. (That church was located at which is now 620 Middle St.

A group of people called “The Methodist Society” paid $25 for 40 square perch of ground, but it was not until 1846 that the first Methodist Episcopal Church was built on the land purchased in 1831. It was in this building that the Fairfield Evangelical Congregation, as it was then called, held its services.

The Lutherans hoped that they would need a larger building for an anticipated increase in membership.  Four new members were added to the roll in 1849 and three more in 1850. However, several had been removed so that in 1850 membership had reached 51.

The Rev. Jacob Barnes began ministering to the congregation in 1852, and it was during his leadership that the church council passed a resolution with reference to a new church building.  However, the church would not be located in Fairfield.

A new town was being developed about 1 ½ miles from Fairfield, very close to the Clark County line. Helping to spur the development of the town was the railroad which was coming through a section of Bath Township.

Fairfield rejected overtures by the railroad, a decision described as “short-sighted” by one history chronicler. In the years ahead its “no” to the railroad would curtail Fairfield’s growth.

But if Fairfield didn’t want the railroad, the new village which would become Osborn was eager to be a stop on the rail line. The railroad was under construction in 1850 when John Cox and Samuel Stafford laid out the village with the assistance of Washington Galloway, a surveyor.  The Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad was provided a street 300 feet wide for its tracks. The plat of the village was recorded in 1851 and was named for a superintendent of the MR & LE railroad, E.F. Osborn, an action that emphasized the importance of the railroad.

As late as 1848 there was no village on the site of Osborn. In 1850 the center of the town was formed. Farmers in large numbers began attending services at the Lutheran Church in Fairfield. These members felt that the proposed village of Osborn would be a more convenient location for a new church.

In 1853, during the pastorate of the Rev. Jacob Barnes, the Lutheran congregation resolved to build a new church in the village of Osborn. While this was the first church in the new village it was not constructed by Lutherans alone. The Lutherans entered into a contract with the Unionists — a group comprised of people belonging to various other denominations.

In carefully formed letters and words and with meticulous penmanship, the detailed contract read in part:

“Whereas the association known and named as the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Osborn in the county of Greene and State of Ohio, have entered into a contract with a number of the citizens of said county; in and about the Town of Osborn in said county; acting for and representing an association of persons calling themselves “The Unionists,” whose object in associating, and forming the said contract is to secure a place which shall be free and open for religious service each alternate week for the use of any person of any evangelical Protestant Denomination whatsoever, who may, or desire by said Unionists to preach or have other religious services in or upon said premises...have agreed to purchase and build a Church on Lot No. 68 on the town plat of the Town of Osborn...set their hands and seal this 23 day of June A.D. 1853.”

In drawing up the contract, the Lutherans were represented by Reuben Miller, Jacob Beyl, John Stine, and Michael Spangler. Signing for the Unionists were John Cox, Samuel Stafford, and G.L. Massey.

The building was dedicated in August 1854 and served the needs of the congregation until 1898. The Lutherans and the Unionists shared control of the building and grounds and used it half of the time, holding services every other Sunday.  Sunday school was conducted every other week by both Lutherans and Unionists.

The structure was not elaborate but of a size to serve the needs of the worshippers.  Cost of the building is not known.  A picture of the building, with a horse and buggy parked outside, shows two front entrances. As was the custom of the times, men and women had their own door for entering and leaving, and they sat on separate sides inside the church.

During the years that the Lutherans and Unionists shared the same house of worship, the Methodists and Presbyterians were taking organizational steps.  A Methodist Church Society was formed in Osborn in 1858, and, for the next 13 years, the society held meetings in various homes.  A Methodist Church was formed in “old” Osborn in 1871 and held its early meetings in the Lutheran-Unionist Church. By the end of that year, they had build a church.

What is now the first Presbyterian Church of Fairborn was organized in old Osborn on Oct. 21, 1860, at a meeting held in the Lutheran-Unionist Church. The Presbyterians held services there every other Sunday until 1866.

With the establishment of denominational churches it was likely that the Unionist membership gradually decreased. The Lutheran-Unionist contract existed until 1872 when it was canceled and all rights in the Osborn Church were ceded to the Lutherans.