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At Main St. Church
£)? ^HANCOCK COUNTY H!ST0"'C/V- ZZ-'C^TY
p. o. :;o\	.’.s
BAY ST. LOUiS, iV.o
Methodists toeelebrate 125 years as
by JAKE JACOB .
Main Street Methodist Church, established in Bay St.I>ouis 1842, is to celebrate its 125th Anniversary on Sunday in services at the church.
The celebration will be followed by the dedication of the Educational Building with the message being delivered by Bishop Mack B. Stokes.
Introduction of the bishop will be performed by Rev. T. Willard Legget, III, district superintendent of the Seashore District.
During the special anniversary service, to begin at 11 a.m., a slient tribute will be rendered to the heroes of “...One and One Fourth Centuries.”
Committee for the dedication and 125th anniversary consists of: Mrs. William R. Pitcairn, chairperson; Mrs. Robert Delcuze, Dave McDonald, Mrs. William Sanders, Dr. Gilbert Oliver, pastor.
William Pitcairn, lay leader, will
read the first scripture lesson; Phil Seeger, chairman, administration board, the second scripture lesson.
during the dedication, Herbert Jeffery, chairman, board of trustees, will present the educational building “... to be dedicated to the glory of God and the service of men..”
According to the official history sheet, Main Street Methodist Church was organized ifi 1852, by E.D. Pitts, school teacher and local preacher, the town then being known as Shieldsboro. Worship services were held in a small building at the corner of Main and Second Streets on property donated some six years earlier by J.V Toulme.
The church was dedicated in 1897 by Bishop Charles B.Galloway, the same year in which a disastrous fire destroyed about half the town.
The church building itself was completed around the turn of the century and, in J936, under the pastorate of Rev. J. Early Gray, a six classroom annex was constructed at the rear of the present sanctuary.
In 1944, A.C. Exnicious gave the church a plot of land adjoining the church building then, five years later, the church purchased a two story building from Exnicious a building used for educational purposes.
Under the pastorate of Rev. H. Bufkin Oliver, the annex building was renovated in 1950 and enlarged to include the pastor’s study, kitchen, dining room, fellowship hall, and two dressing rooms.