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The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Anderson Township (Ohio) was
formally established in October, 1995, upon the consolidation of two long-standing churches in the
Cincinnati area: First Church of Christ, Scientist, Forestville, and First Church of Christ, Scientist,
Norwood. The newly chartered church assumed the edifice of the Forestville branch at 7341 Beechmont Avenue.
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First Church, Norwood, became a branch of The Mother Church in 1915, its
charter membership consisting of 28 former members of First Church, Cincinnati. Services were initially
held in Ideson Auditorium on Elsmere Avenue in Norwood. They remained in this building for seven years
before accommodations were secured in First National Bank, which served as the church's home until its
own edifice was completed on Weyer Avenue in 1924.
Attendance at the Norwood church was so brisk that a second unit was built
on the same site in 1928, and in 1947 a Sunday evening service was added to the traditional Sunday morning
and Wednesday evening meetings. The Sunday evening service remained a tradition until 1976.
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Meanwhile, the Forestville church had its inception when a group of 12
Christian Scientists began meeting at the Masonic Hall in Tobasco, Ohio, in 1942. In 1944, the informal
group was recognized by The Mother Church as a Christian Science Society.
Growing attendance in the auditorium and especially the Sunday School
required that the Society repair to Anderson Township School, where, in 1945, it became First Church
of Forestville. In 1950, the new church purchased a farm on Beechmont Avenue, and services were held
there beginning in 1951.
A new edifice was constructed on the same site in 1964. That church
building continues to serve First Church, Anderson Township.
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