Nappanee, Indiana was heavily damaged by a tornado Thursday night. The Indianapolis Star has photos. I ought to have photos of my own of the town (not the tornado), seeing as how two different bicycle tours took me through the town last year, and I’ve been through it a few times this year, too, at least once by bicycle. But I have a bad habit of forgetting to take photos while I try to get through these midwest towns. Nappanee is a very Amish town, but the traffic on US-6 is not comfortable for bicycling. Even Highway 19, which runs north and south through town, is not the greatest.

My first ride through Nappanee was on my ride to the Midwest League baseball parks in 1996. I was pre-occupied and forgetful that time, too. It was my first experience riding through an Amish town, and it was interesting to see the facilities for horse-drawn buggies. I was already thirsty by the time I got there, but forgot to get water. When I finally got water near South Bend, it took another 24 hours to completely rehydrate myself. I’ve tried not to make that mistake again.

For an August outing this year, we stayed at a campground between Nappanee and Bremen. On the last day I went out for a 30-mile morning ride. I took this gravel road as part of an effort to avoid US-6. By the time I got to the end of this mile, I needed my raingear. I put my maps under cover and ended up guessing my way until I accidentally found myself in Nappanee. From there I knew my way back to camp.

This is one area where one sees a lot of adult Amish people on bicycles (as opposed to the more conservative Amish in Adams County who are required to give up their bicycles when they become adults). I wear a lot of yellow in the rain to make sure I’m visible. During this day’s rainstorm, the Amish people I saw on bicycle wore dark ponchos — which made me worried for them.

This photo is from October 2006. I took it somewhere south of Nappanee, on one of the county roads I had taken in order to avoid Highway 19. I wondered what an Amish-Mennonite church was. I just now got around to looking for information about it. I found this article in Jstor:

Sectarian Ideology and Church Architecture

Charles A. Heatwole

Geographical Review, Vol. 79, No. 1. (Jan., 1989), pp. 63-78.

Abstract: Church structures of most denominations do not exhibit consistent differences. A case study reveals that Mennonites once worshiped exclusively in plain buildings but now use a stylistic spectrum from plainness to modern generic church architecture. Ideological interpretation within the sect explains the choice of architecture for a church. Mennonites are symptomatic of a broad denominational trend. A dynamic model of relationships among religious ideology, church architecture, and the cultural landscape is presented.

And the article contains a a photo of the Fairview Amish-Mennonite church south of Nappanee, near US-19. However, the building is obviously not the one in my own photo. Heatwole’s description says it’s a mile east of US-19, which is a good match to where I was riding, and approximately seven miles south, which sounds perhaps a bit too far (but I’m not sure).

He also says, “…the Fairview Amish-Mennonite Church was founded by persons who broke away from the conservative wing. Compared with fellow moderates, therefore, the Fairview congregation is ideologically conservative and meets in a plain-looking church….”

However, none of the photos in the article, whether of more liberal or conservative mennonites, shows pointed-arch windows like the one in my photo.

So what happened? Did the church move? Did something happen to the building so the congregation bought a protestant-denomination church building and took it over? A break-away group from the break-away group? It might be something to ask about next time I’m in the area.

I hope they didn’t get wiped out by that tornado, though. Some Amish homes were destroyed. I see by looking at Photo #10 from the Indianapolis Star that one eating place I’ve used a couple of times has been damaged. Several months ago my wife went with another woman from our area to visit with a couple of Amish women at a restaurant in Nappanee. I think they were trying to learn what German Lutherans might have in common with the Amish. She was not able to tell from the photos whether the restaurant where they met was demolished, but it looks like that end of town was hurt pretty badly. She is concerned about those women she met in Nappanee, but at least we know that nobody was killed in all that destruction.