By Danny Crownover
Gadsden’s First Methodist Church is 180 years old, maybe a year older. It was in 1845 or 1846 that a small group of Methodists got together and organized a congregation.
For more than 10 years they used the Union Church building in the middle of the block bounded by Broad, Locust, Third and Fourth streets.
When the congregation was first organized it had no regular pastor but in 1848 it became a preaching station on the Cedar Bluff Circuit.
The Rev. John W. Ellis, Jr. was assigned as the first pastor and he came here about once a month. His home was in Cedar Bluff and the presiding elder, the Rev. Ebenezer Hearne, resided at Talladega.
The congregation erected its first church in 1854 with James Christman as the architect. John Wilson furnished the lumber.
The lot at Fifth and Chestnut where the present building stands, was donated by Gabriel Hughes, one of the founders of the city. His grandson, Dr. Preston Hughes, was a member of the board of stewards and his great grandson, Preston Hughes, Jr., was ordained as a minister after graduating from Duke University and the North Alabama Conference that met and assigned him as a pastor of the church at Glencoe.
When additional space was needed it was donated by the late Col. R. B. Kyle.
In 1869 a new building on this site was begun but it was not until 1870 that it was completed.
When it was about ready for occupancy the building suddenly became warped and twisted, largely because of a very tall steeple and faulty construction.
It was finally straightened out and was used for many years. It was ready for the organization of the North Alabama Conference here in 1870.
The Rev. R. A. Timmons was host pastor at that organization and the Rev. C. D. Oliver was the presiding elder. Bishop Robert Pain presided and the secretary was the Rev. J. G. Wilson.
Gadsden had become a fulltime station in 1868 and was experiencing a remarkable growth when the conference was formed.
In 1945, that church has a membership of 1,829. Other sessions of the North Alabama Conference have been held here as in 1877, presided over by Bishop J. C. Keener; Galloway; Hay. In 1885, Bishop Z. W. Wilson; In 1895, Bishop C. B. 1906, Bishop James Cannon, Jr.; In 1937, Bishop Sam.
The 1920 session celebrated the semi-centennial of the organization. Steps were taken in 1891 to erect the present building. The Rev. S. L. Dobbs was appointed pastor and he and special committees went to work and eventually they had a new place of worship.
The building has since been remodeled. The first sermon in the new structure was preached by the Rev. W. E. Mabry. The Sunday school annex was completed in 1919-20 when the Rev. Frank W. Brandon was pastor.
The First Methodist was started when the late General Daniel C. Turrentine organized the first Sunday school in the city for all denominations. That was in 1845. Then he and his wife, Catherine Lucy Turrentine, set out to organize a church of their own denomination.
