Biography

First United Methodist Church (Plain Dealing, La.) is located at 300 East Mary Lee Avenue, Plain Dealing, Louisiana.

A railroad was built, and the first train road through the Plain Dealing area on May 1, 1888. Lots were offered in July and a town was created. Methodist settlers soon decided to form a church in the new town. On June 9, 1888, they selected the site (now occupied by the Plain Dealing High School) for the new church. Mr. S.J. Ziegler donated land to the church and the church was completed by October 3. Benches were brought over from the old Red Land church. The first services were on a Wednesday night, October 10, 1888, by a Presbyterian minister (Rev. McCarty). Methodist pastor Rev. E.B. Foust held services the following Sunday.

The first parsonage on 207 North Calhoun Street was acquired in 1894 under the leadership of Rev. H.J. Boltz. It was bought from Thomas Lyles for $100.

Rev. G.D. Purcell was appointed to the church in 1900 to help them build a new church. The old church was disassembled and used in constructing a new church. A lot for the new church had been donated by J.O. Love.

A new parsonage was built at 410 North Calhoun (lot bought in 1906 for $35) after Rev. T.J. Embree was appointed in 1911.

By the 1920s, the congregation needed a larger church. The old one was sold to a group of black Methodists for $450 and moved. Fundraising for the new brick church began on November 22, 1922, when $9,000 in pledges were raised. After years of raising money to pay off the debt, the church was dedicated on February 10, 1935 at a service led by Bishop Hoyt Dobbs.

During Rev. Reuel H. Allen’s pastorate (1954-58), the old brick sanctuary was torn down and the current sanctuary was completed in 1957. A new parsonage was built on West Palmetto Street.

First 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 SH-65.

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