Biography

Fisher United Methodist Church (Richardson, La.) is located at 41607 Louisiana Highway 1056, Richardson, Louisiana.

Shortly after the Civil War, a small community was formed west of the Bogue Chitto River. Around 1868, Joshway Fisher donated a piece of his land to build a church. That original building was located several hundred yards back and east of the present church. A freshwater spring nearby offered up water that was used by many a passing traveler. The first pastor was Rev. Needham Alford.

Sometime before 1880, S. P. "Pink" Richardson donated 4 acres of land to Fisher Church. He also built a general store, a cotton gin, and a grist mill. The area became known as Richardson, though some still called it Fisher. Mr. Pink organized the first Sunday school and served as superintendent. In those days, Sunday school was for children only and was only conducted on summer afternoons.

In the 1880s, timber was donated to build a new church. Ira Hux also built pews out of the donated material. This "little brown church in the vale" was in use until June 1948. In those days, revivals with "dinner on the grounds" were common. During evening services, bats would fly into the open windows and sometimes came close to knocking over the lamps at the pulpit. In June 1948, the "little brown church in the vale" was replaced by the present brick church under the leadership of Rev. J. W. Boyd.

In those early years, Fisher shared a minister with Angie, Vamado, Sunny Hill, and Mt. Herman. The Sunny Hill congregation, organized in 1920, shut its doors in 1964 due to low attendance.

A parsonage was built at Fisher in 1942 and was used until 1968. At that time, Fisher was supplied a pastor from Centenary Methodist Church (Franklinton, La.). A steeple was added to the church in the mid 1970s under the leadership of Rev. Beverly Bond.

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 NO-20.

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