Biography

Vidalia United Methodist Church is located at 403 North Oak Street, Vidalia, Louisiana.

On April 7, 1880, Pauline Davis Carter donated land on which to build a Methodist Episcopal Church, South structure. The town had been named after her grandfather, Don Jose Vidal. The first church was soon built, though it later burned down and was rebuilt. The church was a Union church and was shared by other Protestant denominations.

On January 30, 1930, the church elected to relocate to the comer of North Spruce and Concordia Streets, on property that was donated by Mr. T. J. Bingham. The move was necessary because the new levee put much of the town in the Mississippi River. Many other structures were also relocated. Rev. Lael S. Jones became the first full-time resident pastor in 1949.

The Baptists left the Union church in 1944 and built their own church. About that time, the Methodists constructed an education building. While Rev. Harold Mine served as pastor (1955-60), the property at the corner of Florida and North Oak Streets was purchased. In 1958, the Presbyterians purchased the old Union church property and rededicated it as a Presbyterian church in 1971.

In the mid-1960s, a brick parsonage was built on property that had been donated by Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Johnson. Work began while Rev. Arby W. Coody was pastor and was completed while Rev. William Odell Simmons was pastor. Bishop Aubrey Walton led the consecration service in the spring of 1966. In March of 1966, Rev. Dan Tohline dressed as an early Circuit Rider and left from Vidalia on horseback to ride to Baltimore, Maryland, for the bicentennial celebration. In the late 1960s, improvements were made to the facilities and property next to the church was purchased. In December 1971, the debt from the buildings built fourteen years earlier was paid off. In July 2021, fire destroyed the church.

Vidalia 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 AL-59.

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