The Natchitoches Missionary
Society Church began under the leadership of Rev. Ebenezer Hayward in 1866.
By mid-year, they had purchased a lot at the corner of St. Denis and Fifth
St. By April 1867, the church and education building had been built
with the help of a $2000 grant from the Methodist Episcopal Society in
New York.. A marker at the site notes that the church,
built by former slaves, was the first Methodist church built in Natchitoches.
When the original church was
burned down in 1879, Rev. J.S. Hilton led the congregation in rebuilding
the church. A third church structure was built under the leadership
of Rev. David Shelby (1892-93) at the same location.
The fourth and current church
was built in 1957 under the leadership of Rev. J.S. Dickson, who led the
first service in the new sanctuary on July 14, 1957. It was dedicated
in May 1974 in a service led by Rev. Richard Harry and Bishop Finis A.
Crutchfield.
In 1998, the congregations of
Williams Chapel and St. Mark (which had been on Asbury’s circuit for years)
joined with the congregation of Asbury. |
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