Biography

Pollock United Methodist Church (Pollock, La.) is located at 1941 Hunter Street, Pollock, Louisiana.

Religious services in Pollock area throughout most of the 19th century were held by traveling circuit riders. The church traces its roots to November 26, 1894 when two lots were purchased from Eugene S. Cronk. That lot is now at the northwest corner of Highway 165 and Highway 8. A Methodist Episcopal Church, South was built on the property sometime before 1904. One member said that the church was “flat looking with lots of windows.” Another lot was given to the church by H.H. McNeely in 1905.

Another Methodist church sprang up after two lots were donated to the church on December 14, 1897 from J.H. McNeely. That church, a Methodist Protestant church, was built sometime before 1908. Tradition says that the original church was burned down when a fire destroyed the town. A new church was built soon after.

The two Methodist churches, only two blocks from each other, served the town for several decades. The M.E.C.S. church was affectionately known as “Miss Hattie’s Church” and the M.P. church was known as “Miss Mollye’s Church” after two pioneer members in each church. When the three major branches of Methodism merged in 1939, the two churches in Pollock merged as well. The M.E.C.S. property was sold to D.M. Powers, who started a garage business on the site. The merged congregation then met at the former M.P. church at 1921 Hunter Street.

The church’s property increased in 1954 when the R.A. Walker family donated a lot on the east side of the church. An education building was built behind the church in 1954. The church’s name was legally changed in 1956 from the Pollock Methodist Church to The First Pollock Methodist Church.

In 1957, the church building was sold to the Methodist congregation at Wardville, where it became the Grace Methodist Church. That church faded away after about a decade and the property sold about 1970. Back in Pollock, a new church was built that same year. Church services were held in the education building during constmction. The dedication service, led by Rev. Marvin H. Hockenhull, was held on November 24, 1957.

In 1965, a new parsonage was built. In 1966 the church bought the Thomason property, extending the church’s property all the way to Steward Street. An addition was made to the fellowship hall. Another lot in the back of the church was purchased in 1998.

Pollock United Methodist Church disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church in 2023.

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 AL-43.

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