Mussellfork Church

Mussellfork Community Church served the town of Mussellfork (Alternative spellings include Musselfork and Mussel Fork). Mussellfork began as a trading post in the 1870's and became an official township in 1877. It eventually grew to contain general stores, drugstores, churches, a grist mill and more.

Mussellfork Community Church was constructed in 1899 as Mussellfork Union Church.  According to an MBCPathway web article: "Since qualified pastors of various denominations were in short supply, it was common for a community to construct a “union church,” where each denomination took a certain Sunday of the month and scheduled their circuit rider to come in. The first week was the Baptist week, the second Methodist and the third Pentecostal Holiness. The fourth or fifth Sunday was up for grabs depending on who could schedule a preacher. No one is sure of its exact denominational history, but it officially disbanded in the late 1960s."
(https://mbcpathway.com/2006/10/20/article51356-htm/)
There were attempts after the 1960s to use the church as a non-denominational church, but those attempts were short lived.  

In 2006, Rick Hall, along with the Missouri Baptist Convention, Mt. Pleasant, Mt. Zion, Monroe Baptist Association and several sponsoring churches, started a church plant at the historic church.  The Church is still active today and is part of the Southern Baptist Convention, pastored by Rick Hall. There is a small number of weekly attendees. It has been renovated and modernized on the inside, though outside they have kept the church in its original look as much as possible.   

If anyone has any information about this church, I would appreciate if you would leave a comment or send me a message.  
I'll update this blog post as I find more information on the church.  

Shiloh Baptist Church

A quaint, one room church, Shiloh Baptist Church sits well off the beaten path.  

The church was established on the second Saturday in May, 1869.  Constituent members were: George H. Rager, Bedford Brown, Ann E. Brown, Elizabeth A. Brown, Lucinda Brown, George C. Brown, Vincent C. Nicol, Elizabeth Neel, Robert A. Todd, Elizabeth Todd, Nancy Vanskike, Martha Latimer, Herbert Bloom, Jennett Bloom, George Elgin, Ducebelle Elgin, Addie Elgin, Henrietta Hewitt, Elizabeth Graves, Lucy Graves, Eliza Graves, Allen Wright, Matilda Wright, Nathan Martin, John Finney, Ann Finney, Margaret Finney, Jesse Vanskike, Martha Vanskike, Robert Lankford, Rebecca Lankford, W. Cochran, Monroe McIlhaney and Edmonia Moore. 
(https://shelby.mogenweb.org/church.htm) 

The church building was built in 1870.  It is a frame construction.  When it was built, it was valued at $1,200.  There is reason to believe this church was named for the Battle of Shiloh, fought in 1862 in Tennessee during the Civil War, which the battle was named for a church located where the battle was fought.  

Shiloh Baptist Church was part of the Mt. Salem Baptist Association.  The members of the Mt. Salem Association believed in missionary work, both at home and in foreign countries. They supported a Baptist hospital located on Taylor Ave., St. Louis. They also supported the Missouri State Baptist Association, formally educating young ministers; and, helped their own struggling churches and pastors as well as indigent "old broken-down pastors" who came to their notice. Each church held a scheduled service once a month, weather permitting, so the churches were able to share somewhat among the pool of pastors.  (http://sites.rootsweb.com/~moknox/cemeteries/c-mtsalemassoc1897.pdf)

In 1884, the pastor was Rev. Thomas Smoot.  The congregation consisted of 103 members and a Sunday School roll of 60 members, with the superintendent being Marion Houghland.  (History of Monroe and Shelby County Missouri, Vol 2. 1884). 
In 1938 the church was still active.  Sometime before 2008, the building had ceased being used for services. 

Former pastors of Shiloh Baptist Church included: D. V. Inlow, James P. Griffith, Thomas Smoot (1884), O. N. Collins (1891) and J. A. Day (approx 1894-1897).

Shiloh Baptist Church has been well kept and is in amazing condition.  The grounds of the graveyard that surround the church have been very well kept. 

If anyone has any information or has any information on the church, please do not hesitate to comment or reach out to me. 

 

Berea Christian Church

 Located at a busy T-junction of two dirt county roads (I mean, three vehicles drove by within two minutes of us stopping on this seemingly out-of-the-way road), the small, one-room, wooden Berea Christian Church is slowly succumbing to nature.  

There is very little information to be found concerning this church online.  It is a simple, one-room, wood frame, gable end church.  This church was a daughter church of Leonard Christian Church (as was Cherry Box Christian Church) and was one of 17 organized Christian churches in Shelby County, Missouri.  According to The General History of Shelby County, Missouri (by Bingham, William H., [from old catalog] comp; Taylor, Henry, & company, Chicago, pub. [from old catalog].  Publication date: 1911), Berea Christian Church had a splendid record for good in the community it served.  At one point it had a congregation of of about 80 members.  

I am not sure when the church closed its doors (nor when it was founded) and subsequently became abandoned, but it appears to have been active well into the later part of the 20th century.  An obituary article for a Mr. Larry Dean Thrasher states that he was united in marriage to Jo Anne Gaines on August 20, 1971 at Berea Christian Church.  The church currently stands, but barely.  It is surrounded by trees that are slowly starting to knock it over.  I fear we will soon see this small but important part of Missouri's church history being lost to the elements.  While the building is easily accessible, a peak inside makes it obvious that someone is using the vacant building as a place to store their junk.  I did not see any graveyard or cemetery associated with this church.  

The name "Berea" for a church is a very common name.  This harkens back to the Bereans in the Bible mentioned in the book of Acts.  "As soon as it was night, the brothers and sisters sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. Upon arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." Acts 17:10-11 CSB.  As the Bereans were considered noble and were praised for searching the Scriptures daily to see if what they were being taught was biblically sound, many churches and Christians today strive to "Be a Berean" and follow in their footsteps.  There was also The Berean Methodist Episcopal Church which was located in Shelby County as well.  

The Christian Church denomination might sound almost oxymoronic, as most denominations and church are Christian, but the Christian Church its own denomination.  The Christian Church denomination is also known as the Disciples of Christ.  This denomination (though members of the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ dislike the feeling of "being put in a box" that being called a denomination can entail) finds its roots in the Restoration Movement of the early 19th century.  This movement, begun by Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone, would go on to birth the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ in 1906 as well as the Churches of Christ (which are non-instrumental in musical worship) and the Independent Christian Church, as well as was instrumental in the formation of both the Latter Day Saints (Mormon's) and Jehovah's Witnesses.  For a more detailed look at the Christian Church and what they believe, head over to: https://www.gotquestions.org/Disciples-of-Christ.html

As always, if anyone has any information on Berea Christian Church or has stories from the church, please comment or reach out to me.  

Bacon Chapel

When it comes to awesome names for a church, Bacon Chapel currently takes the top spot.  

Bacon Chapel is a Methodist church that was organized in the fall of 1837.   There was no church building or structure at the time but the group met in the Lewis cabin about a mile north of the present building.  The original members of Bacon Chapel were: John B. and Charlotte Lewis, Charles Hunt Christian and wife Dolly Ann Wiley Christine, Mary I. Wailes, Margaret A. Moore, M. Wheeler, David Wood, William Wood and Stanford Drain.  Rev. James Pryor of Ohio, held protracted services at the Lewis Cabin, and was the first Methodist minister in Shelby Co, MO.  Worship then moved to a large log cabin built for George Bacon of Hannibal, Missouri, but was never occupied as a dwelling.  It was deeded to the chapel by Mr. Bacon, hence the name.  In 1845 the first church was constructed on land donated by Mr. Bacon.  It was a log structure covered with clapboards and cost $1,900.  Father Eads "Old Father Eads" held the first service before a clapboard floor was put in place.  This initial service was after the Pilgram's style of 'deep humility and fervent sprit.  The congregation at that time consisted of 217 members with a John W. Wailes as superintendent of the Sunday School.  

The first church building stood for twenty years.  In 1870, the current building was constructed.  

Bacon Chapel is the oldest church in Shelby County and is known as the "Mother of Methodism" in Shelby.  In 1938, the chapel was still active.  A remarkable fact about Bacon Chapel in 1938 is that many of the members that were currently attending were descendants of the pioneer settlers who organized the congregation.  
Some of the ministers who have served this congregation are:  Revs. William Pryor, Conley Smith, T. Ashby, Tyson Dines, Martin L. Eads, James M. Green, P.M. Pinkard, Jocob Sigler, James Wainright, James B. Callaway, George Smith, J.B. Baker, M.Birch, L. Newmann, James Light, E.K. Miller, William M. Bush, James Monroe, Jospeh Dines, E. Hudson, T. DeMoss, L. Bush, W.M. McMurry and B.A. Spencer. 

As of 2005, services had been held twice a month at the building.  I am not sure if it is still in use or what the current situation is with Bacon Chapel.  
There is a large graveyard behind the chapel. 


Sources and further reading:

http://www.iowaz.info/moshelby/baconchapel.htm

Elliott, Katherine. "Place Names of Six Northeast Counties of Missouri." M.A. thesis., University of Missouri-Columbia, 1938.

Looney's Creek Old School Baptist Church

While researching old, historic and abandoned churches in Missouri, I came across a photo and post on Looney's Creek Old School Baptist Church.  The name immediately caught my attention.  In my opinion, that has to be one of the most unique and cool names for a church that I have yet come across (though Bacon Chapel, which I will be writing about in a future post, is probably the coolest church name I've yet seen).  

Looney's Creek Old School Baptist Church has its beginnings very early on in Missouri history.  Originally founded as Looney's Creek Mt. Zion Church, it formed out of the membership of the Baptist Church at Pleasant Hill in Marion County, Missouri, on 14 May 1836 and met in the home of Caroline Looney on Looney Creek.  Robert Hendren and Charles L. Turner were elected church elders. A log meeting house was erected in 1837 and Henry Louthan became the pastor at the at time.  Louthan opposed the "Mission System" and the church became divided.  Louthan and his followers split off and formed Henry Louthan Baptist Church (which would later be called Looney's Creek Old School Baptist Church) and the other church continued on as Looney's Creek Mt. Zion Church.  Louthan pastored Looney's Creek for 34 years and was known as the man "who preached without charge and labored with untiring energy." F. M. Turner took over as pastor after Louthan.  The church was organized before the Baptist split into two factions, the Old School and the New School. 
Looney's Creek Old School Baptist Church was still in active in 1938.   

Throughout its existence, the church has been known by many names including: Primitive Baptist Church, Hardshell Baptist, Old School Baptist.  (Interesting note concerning the name "Old School", within Baptist circles there were churches that stressed being "old school" or "new school" in response to the First Great Awakening in the 18th century.  In Presbyterian circles they were called "Old Path" or "New Path".  The old school/path churches opposed the revivalism and new fads that grew out of the First Great Awakening and stressed a simple, more traditional and conservative approach to church services and Christian life. New school/path churches embraced revivalism and the new trends (including Sunday School, missions societies, experiential services) and adapted their church services and life to include such.

The Old School Baptist denomination used to be quite prominent in northern Missouri.  It is now currently known as Primitive Baptists and the denomination as a whole is much smaller and nowhere near as prominent as it used to be.  The name "primitive" simply means that the church or denomination sought to mirror as closely as possible how the church is described in the New Testament of the Bible.  No alter calls, no fancy "concert-like" musical service, etc, but rather the simple style of church service as seen in the Bible itself.  

In typical Baptist fashion, the church building is a simple, unadorned structure.  It is a wooden frame, single-room building with a gable style roof.  Inside there is a small, slightly raised platform at the front of the building for the preacher.  There is a door on the back and the main two doors on the front of the building.  There is also a graveyard associated with this church. 

Pleasant Praire Church

 Pleasant Prairie Church is an abandoned Presbyterian church in Shelby County, MO.  Though the graveyard is kept up and the outside of the building is in good shape and got a fresh coat of paint and some upkeep done in 2017; inside it is but a shell of its former self and provides shelter for the occasional wild animal. 

Pleasant Prairie church was founded in 1866 with 15 members.  The present frame building was constructed in 1869, at a total cost of $1,500.  A Rev. Mr. Wilson preached in the church for many years, before retiring from all ministry work in 1909.  He was a much loved and desired preacher and minister for funeral services and marriages.  

I am not sure when the church stopped being used for services, but it appears to have been a few decades since it was last used.  The cemetery, on the other hand, is still visited fairly often by those with loved ones buried there.  

NOTICE: I have been unable to find very much information on this church online and I would be very, very appreciative if anyone who has stories from this church or information about it to reach out to me.  Thank you in advance!  

Immanuel Lutheran Church

Immanuel Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, was founded in 1855 by Rev. August Lange near Prairie Home, MO.  Though it was founded in 1855, it's history actually starts just over a decade earlier in 1844.  

The original founders were part of St. Peter's Evangelical and Reformed Church, which is located about a mile to the south.  For several years, St. Peter's was a "united church" with a mixed congregation of Evangelicals and Lutherans.  But over the years, due to differences in doctrine and practice, the Lutherans of St. Peter's left and formed their own church.  

The church was organized in 1855, and a building was completed that same year.  The building that currently stands was constructed in 1896 due to an increase in church membership.  Up until 1944, the church building also served as a school, with the minister undertaking both teaching the children as well as pastoring the church.

Today, church membership stands at 22 people with a weekly average attendance of eight persons.  

There is also a graveyard and a parsonage on the property.  

For more information on this church: 
https://cooper.mogenweb.org/Churches/Pleasant_Grove_Immanuel_Lutheran_Church.pdf