With their numbers diminished but their faith undimmed, members of Shiloh Baptist Church, 111 Hayes Ave., are preparing to celebrate their church's 100th anniversary next month.

Two church members with a unique perspective on Shiloh's century of history are its pastor for the past 36 years, the Rev. Floyd Palmer, and the church's oldest member, Ethel Dunlap, 91, of Butler.

“It started many years ago with dedicated Christians beginning with Mr. and Mrs. Charles Barnhart,” said Dunlap of the church's beginnings. “It all started at their home. They decided they would come together and start a church.”

Dunlap said another founder in 1913 was Charles Banks.

“There was a need for a church, an African-American church, in this town,” said Dunlap.

She said the next year, construction began on Shiloh Baptist. The cornerstone of the building reads 1914.

While the church has remained essentially the same, it's address has changed.

The church was on Snyder Avenue until the street was renamed four years ago, said Palmer.

There have been some minor alterations to the building.

“Since that time we did some changing, we've taken out some windows, done some refurbishing,” said Dunlap.

“We remodeled the basement,” said Palmer.

“In that time we've had about 10 different pastors.”said Dunlap, who joined the church in 1942 after she moved to Butler from New Kensington after her marriage to Walker Dunlap.

Dunlap said she and her husband ran Black and White Express, a refrigerated trucking firm that delivered meat until she closed the business in 1996.

She said she still works as a switchboard operator at the VA Butler Healthcare.

She has two children, Diane McDavid of Michigan and Walter Dunlap of Butler.

Palmer said the church has between 20 and 25 members now, predominately African-American.

The church belongs to the National Baptist Convention USA, said Palmer.

“Our desire,” said Palmer “is to be a Bible-preaching, Bible-teaching and Bible-reaching type of Christ-centered church.”

Palmer said the church will mark the 100th anniversary of its founding on Sept. 15.

“We're going to have a morning service celebration at 11 a.m.,” said Palmer. “My friend, Dr. Walter Roy from Richmond, Va., will attend along with other singers and friends.”

After the service, he said, there will be a fellowship dinner in the church basement.

Palmer said the theme of the centennial observance was based on Matthew 16:17-19 “ ... and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

Palmer attributes the church's longevity to “the faithfulness of the dedicated members who were willing to sustain a church here in Butler.”

“We had a much larger congregation before,” said Dunlap. “My father-in-law was the Sunday school superintendent. We had a nice amount of children at that time. But since then, the congregation has gotten smaller.”

The young people, she said, “they go away to college and they don't come back. They get married and go to other towns.”

“Young people go away, but we've lost a lot of members through death,” she said.

Palmer said, “Shiloh earnestly desires young people follow the Scripture to 'Honor thy father and mother that their days will be long on Earth.'”

“Many a fine family has come through here,” said Palmer, “and we still have some fine families residing here.”

Palmer said the church had received bequests from two unnamed school teachers from the Butler area who had passed away without survivors.

“They were dedicated to the community. We were blessed to have people like that,” said Dunlap.

Palmer has shown his own dedication: He lives in Pittsburgh where he owns a barber shop and is a chaplain at the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center. He has been driving to Butler every Sunday for 36 years.

He said running the church these days can be a challenge.

But he credits the church members with keeping the church vital. “The members that we have are truly generous, and they do everything they can to get everything together,” said Palmer.