Biography

First United Methodist Church was located at 1411 Glenwood Drive, West Monroe, Louisiana.

The congregation began as the Trenton Methodist Episcopal Church, South. A plaque on the building says that it was founded in 1847. The first church structure was built about 1850 in Trenton. Though it was used for blacks and whites, the black members sat in a gallery in the rear. Though services were interrupted at the time of the Civil War, services resumed when Rev. Jewel was appointed in 1868 and a Sunday School was organized.

After the railroad was completed through the area, the city of West Monroe took hold. The congregation decided to move to the new town. The church was torn down and rebuilt in West Monroe. A lot was donated to the church by Millsaps and McClain and others. The church was rebuilt on the 150’ square lot. A parsonage was completed in 1913. Led by the Sunday School and the Women’s Missionary Society, the debt on the facilities was paid off by 1917.

A new sanctuary was built on North Second and Wood Streets in 1920-21. A new parsonage and an education building were built in 1955. In 1978, the congregation decided to relocate for better community outreach. New facilities were constructed on 37 acres of land at Glenwood Drive. The first service was held April 4, 1982. In 1999, construction began on a Family Life Center.

First United Methodist Church (West Monroe) 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-86.

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