Information Sheet

 

 

R         First United Methodist Church (West Plains, Mo.).

359                  Records, 1887‑1988.

                                    Eleven volumes and ten folders.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

These are church registers, quarterly conference reports, and administrative records of the First United Methodist Church in West Plains, Howell County, Missouri.  There are records of prede­cessor Methodist churches in West Plains, including the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Methodism in Howell County was pioneered by circuit riders in the 1860s.  “Uncle Jackie” Collins, who began working in 1867, is usually credited as one of the earliest preachers in the area.  The Methodists in West Plains at first shared a hall with the Masonic Lodge.  The Method­ist Epis­copal Church, South, was organized about 1881, after which joint tenancy with the Ma­sons was ended and a frame building was constructed solely for church services.  Some of the members of the Masonic Lodge are said to have formed the nucleus of the Methodist Episcopal Church of West Plains, which was organized about 1883.  Another group, the Con­gregational Methodists, was also active in Howell County, ca. 1883‑1900.  They organized in several loca­tions, including West Plains.

Petitions by the congregations in 1927 led to the unification of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Episcopal Church of West Plains.  After resolution of the de­tails by joint commissions, the merger went into effect on 1 January 1928.  The united con­grega­tion was styled the First Methodist Church and was placed under the leader­ship of the Methodist Epis­copal Church, South.  The former Methodist Episcopal property was sold and a much larger brick edifice was con­structed to accommodate the combined membership.

Unification of the West Plains churches preceded by eleven years the merger of the na­tional bodies in 1939.  At that time, the state conferences were reorganized to encompass all of the Methodist churches in Missouri.  West Plains remained a member of the St. Louis Confer­ence.  In April 1968 the national Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form the United Methodist Church.  Local churches responded accord­ingly, the church at West Plains becoming the First United Methodist Church.

The records of the First United Methodist Church consist of member­ship records, con­fer­ence reports and administrative records.  The earliest records are those of the Methodist Episco­pal Church, South.  Those of the Methodist Episcopal Church do not seem to have been retained when unifi­cation occurred in 1928.  The membership registers, ca. 1902‑1988, in­clude an in­complete re­cord of combined membership after 1928.  Reports of the quarterly conferences for 1887‑1969 contain statistical informa­tion, reports on church programs, and comments on the spiritual condi­tion of the church.  Administrative records, 1929‑1973, include treasurer's reports and other papers pertaining to property, real estate, and fiscal affairs.  A group of miscellaneous papers includes the petitions for unification of the churches in 1927, correspondence regarding church indebtedness during the 1930s, and a scrapbook/history compiled ca. 1967‑1972.  There is also a pamphlet his­tory of the Congregational Methodist churches in Howell County, 1970.

 

 

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