Greene County, Indiana

1st Methodist of Bloomfield

The first Methodist church was organized in the year of 1825 bu E. P. Farmer. Coronelius Westfall wa the class leader. The first quarterly conference was held at the log court house in 1825, with James Armstrong, officiating.

The church was organized at the home of Elisha P. Cushman and the first members were the Cushmans, Robinsons, Scot, Mary Letsinger, William Bransetter & wife, Abel Westfall & family, Dr. Freeland, several Ritters, Stephen B. Lockwood & family, William Mason, the Milams, the Waggonersa, the Browns, Peter Tate and others

Rev. Anthony Robinson was one of the early prominent pastors. His father William Robinson donated forty acres of land near Bloomfield, which when sold furnished the money to build the church in 1845 on the corner of Main Street. It was a neat frame building that stood somewhere near where the parsonage now stands. Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Huff also donated $1,100.00 to the church fund at this time.

In 1887 the frame structure was removed and a brick structure was built in 1887, at a cost of $6,000 which is known as the “old Auditorium” converted to sunday school rooms. In 1989 it was known as the "Freindship Chapel".

The cornerstone for the present church was laid 18 Nov. 1924 and the cost of the building was $45,000. and was erected under the supervision of Clarence Wilson as contractor and Rev. H. H. Sheldon was pastor of the church.

The building committe were : H. W. Letsinger, C. E. Welch, and George Endres. The trustees of the church included the building committie with John Humpheries, H. L. Doney, G. E. Mc Cracken, E. Kirby Ashcraft, John Cushman, and Lee H. Jones.

Dedication of the church took place in May 1925 and a pipe organ had been donated as a gift by Mrs. Jennie Phillips.

In 1887 a dwelling on the west side of the new church was acquired for the parsonag and then in 1925 it was moved just north of the church and remodeled It is also said that the first parsonage was built just about were the present one stand at a cost of $600 which was borrowed from the Indiana Common School Fund and later part of the lot was sold for $125 to help pay the debt. In 1973 a brick house was acquired on Osborn Lane for the parsonage.

In 1950 the "auditorium" was remodled into classrooms and the upstairs rooms were added where the primary classes are. The leaders in this project were J. L. Wilson and Carl Griffith. New pews were provided for the sancutary in memory of Carl Griffith. They were among the last to be manufactured by Faucett-Humpherys Company .
Pastors over the years have been: Noble C. Pfeifer 1938-41; J. E. Beal 1941-943; L. D. Robinson 1943-53; B. J. Renner 1953-1955; Andrew W. Jarboe 1955-59; David L. Abel 1959-71; Maurice B. Mc Clure 1961-64; S. Howard Davidson 1964-68; Everett L. Wright 1968-71; Russell Youngblood 1971-78; Neal E. Partain 1978-84; Maurice E. Brockman 1984-87; ROnald Law head 1987-?

Last updated 22.10.2009