Home
About Us
Contact Us
The
Salem Methodist Church was built in 1907 at the
corner of County Road
No. 13 and the Baseline. Formerly the site of the
Salem Presbyterian
Church, which had since moved into the town of
Jasper, the grounds
included a pioneer cemetery.
A cinder-block Sunday School was constructed as a Lord's Acre project in the 1950s adjacent to the original wood-frame building.
In the early 1980s, faced with declining attendance, the United Methodist Church decided to close Salem as a Methodist Church and turn the building and grounds over to the congregation, which continued to meet.
As their numbers continued to dwindle, it was decided by the congregation to donate the original sanctuary to Lowell Davis, a Carthage artist, for his Red Oak II project, in the hopes and with the promise the building would be preserved and continue in use. The original 1907 portion of the building was then moved to the Red Oak II site some miles south, where it remains.
The remaining members of the congregation continued to meet in the old Sunday School portion of the building until the decision was made to stop holding services, the last being Easter Sunday, 1993.
Since that time, the grounds have been maintained periodically by an informal group consisting of longtime caretakers the Moore family, former church members, those with relatives in the cemetery, and occasional help from the Jasper Masonic Lodge.
With appreciation for those who have labored to preserve the grounds for the last 15 years, we as former members of the church would now like to formalize this group and continue to maintain the property in perpetuity.
A cinder-block Sunday School was constructed as a Lord's Acre project in the 1950s adjacent to the original wood-frame building.
In the early 1980s, faced with declining attendance, the United Methodist Church decided to close Salem as a Methodist Church and turn the building and grounds over to the congregation, which continued to meet.
As their numbers continued to dwindle, it was decided by the congregation to donate the original sanctuary to Lowell Davis, a Carthage artist, for his Red Oak II project, in the hopes and with the promise the building would be preserved and continue in use. The original 1907 portion of the building was then moved to the Red Oak II site some miles south, where it remains.
The remaining members of the congregation continued to meet in the old Sunday School portion of the building until the decision was made to stop holding services, the last being Easter Sunday, 1993.
Since that time, the grounds have been maintained periodically by an informal group consisting of longtime caretakers the Moore family, former church members, those with relatives in the cemetery, and occasional help from the Jasper Masonic Lodge.
With appreciation for those who have labored to preserve the grounds for the last 15 years, we as former members of the church would now like to formalize this group and continue to maintain the property in perpetuity.
Website
furnished
courtesy of the McNary Brothers Company,
Dudenville, Mo.
© 2008 Salem Church Maintenance & Preservation Society
© 2008 Salem Church Maintenance & Preservation Society