By Ron Wilson, Director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Sometimes churches are called a House of God. Today, we'll learn about a church which might also be called a House of Sod. I don't mean to be sacreligious, for this story is about a wonderful community with deep, strong faith that is honoring and revitalizing its history.

Sheryl White is the Executive Director of The Haviland Heritage Foundation. Haviland is in south central Kansas, due west of Pratt and Wichita.

Sheryl White came to Haviland to teach at Barclay College, a small Bible college founded by the Quakers in 1917. Sheryl has a heart for rural communities. She serves as Director of Lay Ministry at the First United Methodist Church at Pratt and previously served in Copeland, Kansas, population 339 people. Now, that's rural.

Haviland was founded in 1884. Quakers moved there from Indiana and Methodist circuit riders came through as well. Even today, the Quakers and the Methodists are still working side by side.

Haviland is named for Laura Haviland, a Michigan woman who was involved with the underground railroad that transported slaves north to Canada during the Civil War. Appropriately enough, she was both a Quaker and a Methodist. She grew up a Quaker, but later joined an anti-slavery Methodist church. Legend has it that Laura Haviland came from Michigan to visit her namesake community around 1885.

In Haviland, as well as other pioneer settlements, history tells us that pioneers built houses out of sod because they didn't have other building materials. I guess it’s logical that they would build a sod church as well. Haviland's first public building was a community church built of sod. That building is gone, but black-and-white photos of it remain. It is referred to as the Old Sod Church.

Sheryl White learned this history after coming to Haviland. She was finishing her doctorate at Houston Graduate School of Theology and needed to do a doctoral project. She brainstormed with Dolores Williams, the Haviland librarian, and came up with the idea of a foundation which would honor and preserve the history of the community.

They gathered longtime Haviland residents, Lucymae Meieris and Shirley Dowell, plus city council members Rodney Hannan and Shari McAfee to start the process. When I say longtime residents, I mean it. Lucymae and Shirley have lived in Haviland for 168 years between them.

This group got together and formed The Haviland Heritage Foundation, which now numbers more than 200 members from as far away as Florida and California.

The purpose of The Haviland Heritage Foundation is to "preserve the history and heritage of Haviland, Kansas and to share this legacy in tangible ways that will convey its distinct values and contribute to its corporate future." 

One specific project is to restore the Old Sod Church and display historic artifacts.  Among other things, the foundation is selling a beautiful Haviland afghan.

The Haviland Heritage Foundation conducts two events. One is the Haviland Heritage Holiday Happening, consisting of a Christmas celebration downtown. This includes special holiday music, crafts, vendors selling handmade goods, a live nativity, and pictures with Santa. This event in December, 2004 attracted some 350 people.

The second event is the annual Picnic in the Park held in June. That includes a parade, speakers, music, fireworks display and more.

In 2005, this included a special recognition for couples in the community who had been married for 50 years or more. There were 32 of those golden anniversary couples. That's impressive, but the main guests of honor, Elrie and Myrtle Kinser, had been married 71 years.

Sheryl White says, "This community has been down-scaled.  We need to support this community so we don't lose something so precious."

It's time to leave Haviland, a community whose history includes a church which was not just a House of God but also a House of Sod. We salute Sheryl White and all those dedicated volunteers on the executive board of The Haviland Heritage Foundation who are making a difference with their commitment to this historic community.

And there's more. We'll learn about something else that came to Haviland from the heavens in our next column.

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The mission of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development is to enhance rural development by helping rural people help themselves. The Kansas Profile radio series and columns are produced with assistance from the K-State Research and Extension Department of Communications News Unit. Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at http://www.kansasprofile.com. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/huckboyd/.