On September 26, 1887, Rev.
James Tucker came to Slidell to hold a revival under a brush arbor.
Twelve members joined the church that day. Rev. Tucker, and Rev.
J. D. Crymes who followed, served the West Pearl Charge of the Mississippi
Conference. By the next year, a new place of worship had been established.
A building constructed by the Salmen Brick and Lumber Co. was used as a
school and church. The Methodists met in a Union Assembly with other
denominations. As the Methodist congregation grew, it was decided
that they needed their own facilities.
Tradition says that four members
contributed $50 each towards a piece of land, located where the Salmen
baseball field now exists. A small frame building was soon constructed.
A parsonage was built across the street, on the corner of Second and Guzman
Streeets. Greenwood Cemetery was across the street from the church
yard. By 1894, Slidel was in a 2 point charge with Lacombe in the
Louisiana Conference.
In 1905, the growing congregation
bought a lot of land for $250 on First Street and built a new church.
In the 1920s, an adjacent piece of land was purchased. The house
on the lot became the new parsonage, and an educational building was constructed.
In the 1950s, plans were made
for a 3 phase building program. The church's current location was
purchased in 1957 for $22,500. Phase one in 1960-61 saw the construction
of an educational building with classrooms and a large assembly area.
It was paid for by pledges and from the sale of the old church property.
The second phase, a new 500 seat sanctuary, was undertaken in 1968-69.
The first service in the new sanctuary was held in October 1969.
The 1980s saw the addition of
a pipe organ to the sanctuary. When the church was designed in the
1960s, the future addition of the pipe organ had been included. Costing
$130,000, the organ was installed in time for the congregation's Centennial
Sunday celebration on September 20, 1987.
Source: From a Forest Arbor: A Centennial History of FUMC,
Slidell, LA, George E. Foster & Paul McKelvey |
