Biography

Crowville United Methodist Church (Crowville, La.) is located on Cypress Road, one mile east of Louisiana Highway 17.

On May 10, 1889, the Baptist Church of Christ in Crowville bought a one and a half acres of land on the Harrisonburg Road (Hwy 578) and built a church on the southwest corner of the plot. The rest of the land was used as a free burial ground. Since the Methodists and Presbyterians had helped in the construction, on May 23, 1889 an agreement was drawn up to allow those two denominations to worship in the structure on the second and fourth Sundays.

The Methodist congregation was organized by Rev. D.C. Barr in 1913. After a visiting minister from Mississippi held a revival there in 1915, the Methodists were inspired to build their own church.

They held services and Sunday School at the Crowville School (at the corner of Hwy 17 and Hwy 577) while they raised money. The Sunday School was a Union gathering of various denominations. The community pulled together to haul the lumber from the train station and build the church.

In 1952, the church decided to build a parsonage. After buying a lot for $5 from Ellis G. Gmbe on April 4, 1953, a parsonage was built. In 1956, the orphanage in Ruston suggested that they exchange a home (that had been left to them by Mrs. Mamie Bush) with the Crowville parsonage. It was approved in 1958.

In 1968, the church began construction on a new church and education building. The church was later dedicated in 1975.

Crowville United Methodist Church disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church in 2022.

Source: Timothy Hebert, “The Historical Register of the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church,” (Louisiana: Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, 2004), page MO-24.

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