Read time: 3 min.

I love it when old buildings find new purposes, and churches seem especially good at making that happen. I’ve written about congregations taking over old Walmarts here and here, a Marsh Supermarket here, and even an Elder-Beerman in this post. Still, I’ve never seen one embrace a building’s past quite as cleverly -or cynically- as this. Look above the entrance: that used to be a Chevrolet bowtie! Add one little downstroke and- presto! It’s a cross. Why should a perfectly good Chevy logo go to waste?

This building on the west side of Middletown dates to 1968¹. For many years, it was home to Sam Pierce Chevrolet², which relocated to rural Daleville around 2003³. Fall Creek Apostolic Church acquired the old dealership after Sam Pierce moved⁴, but the congregation was no newcomer to Middletown. It previously appears to have held services at 103 North Fifth Street⁵ and 506 Locust Street⁶. Despite the different addresses, both point to the same old bank building downtown.

I’ll never seriously chide a congregation for where it chooses to worship. Still, I enjoyed this restomodded Chevy dealer. The aluminum steeple -what looks to me like a Campbellsville S-150-20- gets the point across from a distance, but up close, you have to admit that the old bowtie steals the show. Instead of removing it, covering it up, or replacing it with a conventional cross, some well-meaning trustee or congregant simply extended its center downward. Chevrolet became Christianity with a simple brushstroke.

Joking aside, that little alteration is exactly what I like about repurposed buildings. Plenty of former dealerships have been converted to other uses, but I doubt many advertise their second act quite as efficiently. Sometimes adaptive reuse takes millions of dollars, but other times, all it takes is some plywood, paint, and an aluminum steeple.

Sources Cited
1 Parcel 022-02623-00 (2026). Office of the Assessor. Henry County [New Castle]. Web. Retrieved September 21, 2026.
2 Sam Pierce Middletown (1986, January 19). The Muncie Star. p. 44.  
3 Slabaugh, S. (2003, April 10). Daleville runs water lines to new Chevy dealership. The Muncie Star Press. p. 13. \|
4 (See footnote 1).
5 Hear (1987, December 26). The Muncie Star. p. 4. 
6 Seventh ANNIVERSARY (1989, June 17). The Muncie Star. p. 4.