ADA, Ohio -- Sheila Hughes grabbed fellow church members in a tight hug Tuesday afternoon as they stood on Main Street in this quiet Hardin County village, watching firefighters douse whatever hot spots remained after a massive fire destroyed a "community icon."

The fire at the 19th-century First United Methodist Church at Main and Highland Avenue in downtown Ada was reported just after noon as a group of about 20 young students in a Head Start class headed outside for a tornado drill, said Joyce Lasala, a church member and volunteer at Restore, a church-affiliated resale shop.

PHOTOS: First United Methodist Church burns

"Someone came in and said they saw smoke coming from the church," Ms. Lasala said from the sidewalk outside the store, which is just down Main Street from the church.

She and other store volunteers went outside and watched the large stained-glass rose window on the front of the church blow out from the extreme heat inside. Only moments later, a second, larger stained-glass window facing Highland Avenue broke.

"Then flames just shot out," she said.

Heat from the ferocious fire melted the siding on the fronts of two houses across the street from the church, as well as several trash and recycling receptacles nearby.

The children from the Head Start class were taken across the street to the Ada Public Library -- which incurred some damage to its roof from debris picked up in the wind. No injuries were reported.

Hundreds of spectators came and went throughout the afternoon hours to look at what little remained of the stone church, which was dedicated in June, 1889.

"It means so much to so many people," Ms. Lasala said. "You just feel heartbroken. You realize it's just a building … but you have memories there. It's hard to see."

First responders were called in from neighboring communities, including Bluffton, Kenton, McGuffey, Jenera, Alger, and Union Township, and from the Hardin County Sheriff's Office. The state fire marshal's office was investigating the cause.

Ms. Hughes was born into the church more than 50 years ago, she said.

In 1980, she was married in the church. In 2008, her husband's memorial service was held there and, just last year, a memorial service for her mother.

"It's very sad," she said, wiping away tears. "There's a lot of history in that church."

It had about 300 members, said Linda Dearth, a Restore volunteer.

One of those members, David Smittle of Ada, brought his young son Evan to see what was left of the church Tuesday afternoon.

Although Mr. Smittle was at work and in meetings, a neighbor, also a church member, sent him a text message telling him the church was engulfed in flames.

Mr. Smittle, who has attended the church since 1987, said his three children were brought up in the church and seeing the shell that remained was sad.

"But there's a lot of good people and good things that have gone through that facility," he said.

"It's more of the people and the lives impacted by the good, caring people in the congregation. It's sad [the church is gone], but the people mean more to me than the building."

Ms. Lasala echoed Mr. Smittle's remarks, saying an impromptu prayer vigil of about 35 people near the church at about 1 p.m. ended with someone saying, "We are the church."

"That's the building," she said, "but we are the church."

Contact Taylor Dungjen at: tdungjen@theblade.com, 419-724-6054, or on Twitter@tdungjen_Blade.

First Published March 13, 2012, 6:06 p.m.