| Author unknown |
| 1914: the church was old then. A Methodist church.
It sits where the parsonage sits at the present time.
[This was written after the current sanctuary was built in 1969. The
old parsonage was torn down to make room for the current sanctuary.
The current parsonage has been in the same location since 1901.]
The road running in front of the church was all gravel and rock. It
was a long church, much longer than wide with an enormous steeple
to the south; a big bell rang for the people on the Lord's day. An
addition or an apartment was built on the back of the church for the
Pastor's study, directly in the center of the building. The line fence
was right close to the church with only an alley way or a lane between.
The teams of horses and the stalls were tied and cared for where the
educational building is presently located, over the basement part.
A Rev. John Mobley was pastor in 1914, but upon [his] leaving pastors
who preached in Orchards drove back and forth and many went and came,
whose names we cannot think of at the time of this writing. A Mr.
Ed Buttler was the S.S. Superintendent and a bachelor. He married
in later years and had 5 kids. Mr. & Mrs. Hargrave were S.S. workers
and lived on the old Rose place by our church. A Mrs. Reed had a real
part in the Lord's work and lived on the John Meisner place next to
our church, gathered in may children and helped them with programs
and songs. A Mrs. Edmond, who lived on Green Mtn., which is now the
Baker place, was also a great S.S. worker. In 1920, the end of the
building was torn out and the church was used as a barn filled with
hay. In later years the barn was torn down and much of the lumber
was used to build the house which is now the parsonage. However, the
Methodist church board had sold this barn to a Mr. Drum who constructed
the house as it is and was later used for a parsonage & church. How
it was re-purchased, the writer does not know. A Rev. Simon Anderson
was the next known pastor. The S.S. was started in an old hall now
used as a 4-H hall, across from Andy Schmidt's." |
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