Jonesboro-Hodge United Methodist Church (Jonesboro, La.)
Biography
Jonesboro-Hodge United Methodist Church was formed in 2018 when Hodge United Methodist Church (Hodge, La.) merged with Jonesboro United Methodist Church (Jonesboro, La.). Jonesboro-Hodge United Methodist Church is located at 402 Fourth Street, Jonesboro, Louisiana.
Hodge United Methodist Church was located at 405 West Central Street, Hodge, Louisiana. On March 20, 1903, thirty-six charter members organized a church. In those early days, the services and Sunday School were either Union or Community. The church, built by the Huey Hodge Lumber Company, was the only one in town and was used by several denominations. After the old church was condemned in 1926, the company built the congregation a new church. As other denominations left, the Southern Advance Bag and Paper Company gave permission for the Methodist Church to promote services. In 1968, the Continental Can Company gave the church and parsonage to the United Methodist Church. Two years later, the Hodge United Methodist Church built a new sanctuary and education building.
Jonesboro United Methodist Church was located at 402 Fourth Street, Jonesboro, Louisiana. Two Methodist churches were founded in Jonesboro in 1902. One was Methodist Protestant and the other was Methodist Episcopal, South. The Methodist Protestant church built its first building in 1902 on the corner of South Allen and Seventh. The land was given to the church in June 1902 by J.S. Cargile. The church was rebuilt in 1932.
The Methodist Episcopal, South church had ten charter members. They were led by Rev. M.H. Honeycutt. They first built a parsonage (1903) and then a church (1905). The church was located on the corner of Fourth and Cooper.
One year after the merger of three branches of Methodism, the two Jonesboro churches merged. Dr. D. B. Rawlings led the ceremony on October 27, 1940. The funds from the sale of the Methodist Protestant church were used to help build a new church at the comer of Fourth and Cooper. A two-story education building, built on Cooper Avenue in 1941, was used for services during the construction of the new church. After seven months of construction, at a cost of $75,000, the first service in the new church was held on October 8, 1950. The education building was later turned into a fellowship hall.
A new parsonage costing $40,000 was built on Cooper Avenue in 1959. A new education building costing $118,000 was built on Fourth Street in December 1968. In September 1987, the former Rundell school property was purchased for $27,855. This brought the total church property to five acres.
On December 1, 2018, the nearby Hodge United Methodist Church (Hodge, La.) merged with Jonesboro United Methodist Church to form Jonesboro-Hodge United Methodist Church (Jonesboro, La.).
Jonesboro-Hodge United Methodist Church disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church in May 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 MO-39, 43.