The New Franklin United Methodist Church will celebrate 200 years of service on Sunday, September 25.

A special program and lunch will follow the regular 10:30 a.m. service on Sunday. Anyone who plans to attend the lunch must RSVP to Diane Chitwood at dianechitwood@yahoo.com so that enough food is prepared.

Franklin, the first town in the Boonslick and the first county seat of Howard County, was laid out on the banks of the Missouri River in 1816. Immigrants poured in, and the town became the outfitting point for expeditions to the west and is known as the beginning of the Santa Fe Trail. As the population grew to more than 2,000 people, William W. Redman organized a Methodist “class” in 1822. There is no record of a church being built in Franklin at this time. Members met for worship in their homes and the courthouse.

Around the year 1826, as the Missouri River changed its course and began to cut away the land on which the town was built, it became apparent that Franklin was doomed to destruction. A new location was chosen on the bluff about two miles northeast of Franklin, and a new town was laid out in 1828, later to be known as New Franklin. It was in 1822 that the “class” divided. Some members joined with William and Joshua Monroe to meet in their home on their farm around miles northwest of Franklin. They were to establish the church, which became Clark’s Chapel. Other members remained in Franklin until the ravages of the river cut the town away.

Sometime between 1822 and 1840, the Methodist church was moved from Franklin to the new town. It is probable that the “class” moved rather than was reorganized. The first church building was erected in 1840, a two-story frame building that stood where the present parsonage now stands on Missouri Street. Later the upper story of the church was removed, and the portion left was used until 1866 by Methodists, Christians, and Baptists alike, for their respective services.

In 1866 a new church was built in New Franklin. The bricks for this building were burned on the John Agnew farm east of town. Times were hard, and money was scarce. Some gave their labor in building, and with perhaps two exceptions, the church was built by poor people. Strother Todd said he gave $100 in work and hauled brick from the kiln at 50 cents a 1,000. Bob Ransom plastered both rooms, and Todd carried all the mortar and helped burn the line down at Charlie Canole’s place.

The church was originally intended to be only one story, but the Masons and Oddfellows, needing a meeting hall, proposed to pay the church $100 for the privilege of running up to second story of the building. Their offer was accepted, and the lodges were given a deed to the upper story.

E. F. Marvin was elected bishop in April 1866 in New Orleans, and soon after dedicated the new church. B.F. Johnson was the pastor, and Rev. Andrew was the presiding elder.

The church continued to be the only one in town, and other denominations continued to use it freely upon any occasion when the Methodist had no engagements. The young people of town attended a general Sunday school in which no lines of faith were drawn. The Baptists and Christians shared their own church, Mt. Pleasant Church, using it on alternating Sundays in the daytime. Often the preacher would come into New Franklin to hold a service at “candlelight” at the Methodist Church.

Rev. W. F. Bell, who was born in Franklin in 1831, came to the Fayette Circuit and became pastor of the New Franklin church in the fall of 1867. He raised the money for the long, square-box stoves that were brought up the river on a steamboat. He also raised the money for the bell, the first church bell ever to ring in the community. It is still in use today in the present church building.

Under the pastorate of Rev. E. C. Swann in 1911, the upper room of the church was purchased from the fraternal orders for $1,200 and rearranged for the growing Sunday school.

By 1900, the eastern line of the M-K-T Railway was built as New Franklin’s development boomed and the town’s population doubled. It was around this time that members began the discussion of building a new church. It would not be until 1924 that definite plans were developed for a new church under the pastorate of Rev. John L. Lawson. The old building was razed, and the present brick building was erected at a cost of $25,000. This building continues to serve the present congregation.

The cornerstone was laid on September 11, 1924. Bishop W. F. McMurry dedicated the new church on April 18, 1925. A collection of $6,800 was raised to complete the payment on the church. At noon, the ladies of the church and community served a dinner in the basement of the church. The attendance is estimated to have been about 700 people.

The church Board of Trustees who had charge of the erection of the new building were R. T. Kingsbury, T. J. Heath, J. C. Heath, C. A. Edmonston, S. B. Meyer, and H. M. Kingsbury.

“A church that has long served the community as a hallowed place of worship brings to many minds thoughts of the past, and sincere regrets that we have no complete record of the notable incidents that transpired within its sacred walls,” said R T. Kingsbury during the current church building’s dedication ceremony. “The children of this old church have grown up and some have gone to other lands, where their noble lives have shared a radiance of blessing around those with whom they sojourn.”