Methodism And The Citadel Of Wickedness

Getting a church started in the frontier territory of Missouri in the early 1800’s was a task which called for inventiveness, initiative, and action. When Jesse Walker wanted to build a Methodist church in St. Louis he had little money to purchase the material for the building or the furnishings to go in it. But his small congregation was given a valuable gift-logs. Unfortunately they were in a rather unfinished state. As a matter of fact they were still trees. And they were growing on the other side of the river, in Illinois. Jesse Walker and his group of Methodists went across the river, chopped down those trees, ferried them across the river, and sawed them into lumber. The church they built measured 25 by 30 feet. By now the Escopalians were interested in the effort too. They had just lost their pastor and it looked as if it might be a while before their next one came. So they gave Walker’s church the pulpit and the pews it needed. Thus the Reverend Jesse Walker built Missouri’s first Methodist church. He built it in a town many Methodists feared- St. Louis.

AOWM January 7, 2005