Looking through stained glass windows provides a view of history. Restoring those windows allows the
artisan to touch history and preserve it for generations to come.
Andrea Knight is currently heading the crew to restore the panels of stained glass windows at First
Presbyterian Church in Bowling Green.
“These are awesome windows — incredible works of art,” she said. “They’re priceless.”
“We’re touching history,” said Leith Killy, one of the glass workers restoring the windows. “We are just
a small part of the life of something special.”
“We are just the custodians for the whole community of a set of great art pieces,” Pastor Gary Saunders
said of the windows. “We consider the windows to be a community resource.”
Knight is taking the lead on the project through Bigelow Glass in Findlay.
“For their age they are in OK shape,” Knight said of the windows which were made in 1938. “There is some
bowing and sagging and the lead is becoming brittle. They are definitely starting to get tired.”
She explained she has dealt with far worse windows and credited the church with making a wise decision to
restore them now before they deteriorate further.
Beyond the biblical history depicted in the panels, the windows have their own history which has been
preserved by the church.
The neo-gothic stained glass windows were created by the Henry Keck Stained Glass Studio of Syracuse, New
York, in 1938. The cost to the church for the windows was $8,000. The cost for the restoration and
preservation is approximately $150,000 according to the pastor.
Knight said, “The windows are a treasure map. You can learn so much from them.”
As part of the restoration, new storm windows will be installed to further insulate the church as well as
protect the windows. The storm windows will replace the Lexan covering which is now yellowing. Knight
explained Lexan at one time was a very popular plastic sheet which was used as an alternative to glass —
often by churches such as here.
In the main sanctuary there are six sets of windows on both the north and south sides of the building.
Each set consists of two windows with five panels in each of those. Within each window are approximately
1,670 pieces of glass. Thus the windows contain more than 20,000 separate pieces of glass. Each window
is more than 13-feet tall and just under two-feet wide. The various panels range from 12 to 48 inches
each. At the top of the panels is a “kite,” a small piece bridging the two taller panels.
The stained glass windows in the balcony of the sanctuary were also restored. It is believed those
windows may date back to the construction of the church in 1922.
Based on the type of glass and the design and pattern of the older windows, Knight thinks the windows
were likely installed with the building in 1922 or shortly after its construction.
“Those windows were in worse shape than the rest of the panels,” she said.
Restoration involves numerous steps and tedious work. After removing each window, panel by panel,
pictures are taken to accurately capture the window as it was. When the panels arrive in the Findlay
studio, rubbings are made of the design with the windows being laid out on the paper replica. A second
rubbing is also made to be used as the window is reassembled.
At the studio each panel is placed in a pan of water with a solution to help loosen the lead. The panes
of glass are separated from the old leading and hand-scrubbed. The water is used to keep to a minimum
exposure to the lead.
As the staff at Bigelow wash each individual piece they will note and mark any chips or breaks. Those
broken will be replaced.
Knight has matched the various glass used in the windows and created replicas of the various repetitive
pieces within the windows. Each piece is silk-screened painted to match and fired in a kiln which
reaches temperatures of 1,250 degrees.
After all the pieces are ready to reassemble, they are inserted into the new leading, which is actually a
mixture of tin, nickel and lead. It is pliable and is bent around the glass. The individual pieces of
glass have different thicknesses and putty is placed into the leading to hold the glass in place and
fill any gaps.
The putty also allows the windows to move and expand with the weather.
It takes months of painstaking work to do one window. The ongoing project has already taken roughly nine
months.
Jessica Zinz-Cheresnik is an instructor at Bowling Green State University and is working on these and
other windows at Bigelow.
“I really enjoy the feeling when you can hold up the window to the light and see you’ve been part of
this.”
Knight said, “There is a lot of detail to make sure you put it back the same way with the same attention
to detail the first artisan used when it was created.”
She added they all try to maintain the integrity of the original windows. “We take a lot of pride in
matching the pieces.”
Killy enjoys the work, “We are learning things you can’t learn in school. This is like putting puzzles
together. Once we touch it and finish it nobody will touch them again for another 150 years.”
He added, “If we didn’t rebuild them they would just crumble.”
Saunders said the church leaders were aware the windows were starting to bulge in some places and decided
it was necessary for the restoration.
“Once every generation, a church needs to step up and do things for the next generation to be able to
pass on the facility for others to use in the future,” he said.
“You can’t have windows like that unless you do this kind of work. People did a lot of sacrificing to
have this building and those windows, and now its our turn.”
Saunders said the congregation has been very supportive of the project and putting forth the financial
resources to make it happen.
“Everybody is very, very excited. We are really looking forward to the completion of the windows,” he
said
Once completed plans involve adding some lighting on the inside, he said, “so those windows can be
enjoyed by the community at night.”
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