Biography

DeQuincy United Methodist Church (DeQuincy, La.) is located at 301 East Center Street, Dequincy, Louisiana.

The first mention of the DeQuincy church in the records appears in the report of the 1908 Gulf Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Pastor W. F. Bolton reported a full membership of 87 and $1,200 in property value. There was also $590 was spend on the building of a parsonage that year. We know very little of those early days because a hurricane in 1918 destroyed most of the local records.

It appears that pastoral care in those early days was intermittent. Most of the residents were Baptist with few Methodists in the area. One member of that day referred to the church as a “big, crude bam” that had never been completed. It was located between Third and Fourth Streets on Front Street, just north of the service station. The parsonage was on the north side of the church. Property was purchased -- lots 3 and 4 of block 3.

After the 1918 storm destroyed the church and parsonage, a lot on the corner of Holly and Center Streets was purchased for $400 on March 17, 1919. District Superintendent J. A. Carruth led the congregation in building the new church that year. The white church, painted white and built on piers, cost $4,500 and was 40 by 56 feet in size. A new parsonage was built on the opposite corner. The first pastor in the new parsonage was Rev. C. M. Hollett who arrived in 1920.

On July 12, 1921, lot 8 of block 3 east of the church was purchased for an annex of classrooms. An open-air tabernacle was built in the early 1920s on the south side of the church for holding revivals.

In 1947, an education building was acquired under the leadership of Rev. Spinks. The building had been a chapel at the DeRidder Air Force Base. In 1957, the decision was made to construct a new church. The old church was taken down and the new church completed by the end of 1958. The dedication service was held on May 5, 1963.

When the education building was badly damaged by a fire on March 1, 1966, it was decided to build a new one. The new fellowship hall was built in early 1967. The church built a new parsonage in the Boise Southern Addition in 1972.

In 1988, property on the south side of the church was purchased. The house on the lot was sold and the lot reserved for parking space. The fellowship hall was remodeled in 1991 and a new activity building was built in 1994.

DeQuincy Memorial 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 LC-6.

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