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The German immigrant families that came to Oklahoma in the late 19th century found the right conditions for establishing homes in what would become Canadian County. They found rich farm land and opportunities and personal freedom. They put their plows into the ground and cattle into pastures and formed a community that was, in every sense of the word, a community.

They named it Heaston. Soon, they wanted a church.

They agreed to accept the words of the Bible in a literal way. They believed in the divinity of Jesus Christ. They didn't want to be involved with any church they had known before. So Heaston Community Church began as a non-denominational, conservative, Bible-based Christian church.

Descendants of many of the founding families are still in place to help the church celebrate its centennial this month. In some cases, they represent five generations.

Burge Troxel has been pastor five years. He said the members have been diligently researching the congregation's history, but cannot determine exactly when the church was founded.

"So we're celebrating with the state,” Troxel said. "We figure that's close enough.”

A series of anniversary events this week will honor the community's past and anticipate its future. Heaston is a ghost town now. But between 1896 and 1907, a post office operated there. The town boasted a general store, a telephone company, an office for Modern Woodmen of America and a church congregation that met on the second floor of the store. A sanctuary was built in 1934. Because it was non-denominational, it was eligible for construction by the WPA, a federal New Deal agency.

By the middle of the 20th century, all but the church and a water tower had vanished, in the way prairie towns historically disappear.

Nevertheless, Troxel said, the process was unusual. Many times, he said, the closing of the local church causes the demise of a town.

"There aren't many situations in which a town disappears and a church remains,” he said. But the church is growing. Some 130 members represent nearly 60 families. About half, Troxel said, are geographical legacies. The rest are newcomers from El Reno and Mustang and Calumet who come because they like the atmosphere and the philosophy of worship

The congregation plans a $1 million addition, which will include a sanctuary, kitchen and nursery. Members' contributions will pay for it as they build, so there will be no debt.

And while the long-term families continue to worship there, the church also has a youth ministry and a concentration on young families.

In 1896, William Reuter married a young woman from the Von Tungeln family and followed her family to Oklahoma. Reuters and Von Tungelns still occupy pews at Heaston on Sundays, and Barbara Reuter, who married into the community, is chairman of the celebration.

Donna Von Tungeln, a committee member, still lives in the family home where her late husband was born.

"It was a tradition,” Reuter said. "Both our husbands grew up in that church, and we never thought to leave.”