Biography

Sicily Island United Methodist Church is located at 608 Newman Avenue, Sicily Island, Louisiana.

In the second half of the 19th century, the area of present-day Sicily Island was served by the Pine Hill Church located about five miles away. That Methodist church had been built around 1860.

When a railroad came through the area, a town named Florence was formed in 1890. Its name was changed to Sicily Island in 1912. As the town grew, the Methodists wanted a church closer to home. H. M. Peniston donated an acre of land in 1893 so that a parsonage could be built. Two years later, Louis K. Hyde of Titusville, Pennsylvania, donated a lot on which to build a church.

At first, services were held in a school. Revivals were held between 1905 and 1908 by two preachers from Texas . . . Sister Bartlett and Sister Pardue. The revivals helped to inspire people to organize and build the church. A pastor (Rev. S. S. Bogan) was assigned in 1908 and led seventy people in uniting with the church on November 21, 1909. The structure, which was the first church building in town, was completed by 1910. There were seventy members at that time. A parsonage was completed about 1912. Classrooms were added in 1945.

By 1962, the church had acquired five lots towards the front of the block. A new sanctuary was built and was completed by 1965. The previous sanctuary was used as an education building for about a decade. In 1975, a new education building was constructed. The rear half of the block was purchased in 1974. The church owned the complete block after the last two lots were donated to the church by Jeanette Saltzman Gremillion in 1988. In 1995, construction began on the Darien Reid Bird Family Life Center. It was dedicated on April 29, 1996.

Sicily Island 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 MO-72.

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