Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church (Ponchatoula, La.)
Biography
Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church was located at 39731 South Thibodeaux Road, Ponchatoula, Louisiana.
Methodist services began in 1853 in the Wells School House, the site of Wesley Chapel UMC. The worshippers were served by circuit-riding pastors. The first recorded Quarterly Conference (June 19, 1858) notes that the circuit was served by Rev. E. R. Strickland and Rev. W. S. Townsend at that time.
The congregation didn’t build their own church until after James Wells donated 5 acres to the church on February 25, 1861. The name “Wesley Chapel” was adopted on June 12, 1861, at the third Quarterly Conference. The Sunday school was organized in 1887 under the leadership of Mr. T. M. Terry as superintendent.
Rev. W. D. Drake was pastor when a new church was built in 1889. The church consisted of a single 30 by-50-foot room with a high ceiling. It was built of rough one-by-twelve lumber. The sills were hewn from a single tree running the length of the building. Wesley Chapel was on a circuit at this time with Hammond, Springfield, and James Chapel.
In later years, two Sunday school rooms, a parsonage (completed in 1944), an educational building, and a new sanctuary were built. The educational building, built around 1950, was dedicated on September 4, 1952. The present sanctuary was built in 1958-59. The first service in the new church was held on Easter Sunday, March 29, 1959.
Wesley Chapel 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 BR-81.