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Mt. Moriah United Methodist Church is located on Old St. Mary's Pike approximately two miles up the Worthington
Creek from the northern border of the city of Parkersburg, WV. It has been the landmark that has stood in this
community since the dedication service held on the first Sunday of October, 1874. The two acres on which the church
and the cemetery are located was donated by Edward McPherson through a deed that was recorded on May 7, 1874.
In 1930, W. Kay Dawkins and his wife Ethel donated an adjoining track of three acres that allowed access to the road. Several additions have been made to the church and the property over the years. In 1928 an addition was built that doubled the interior size of the church. A parsonage was built on 30th Street in Parkersburg and donated to the church by Raymond Wharton in 1947. A concrete fellowship hall with kitchen and restrooms was built adjacent to the church. Mt. Moriah began its history of service to the Lord as a Methodist Episcopal Church until 1939 when three branches of the Methodist Church were united as one. In 1969, with the merger of the Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist Church, Mt. Moriah became a United Methodist Church. Even though the name of the church changed, its place within the surrounding community as a bulwark against weak faith, remains dedicated to serving the Lord in ministries that reach far beyond the walls of the church building. The programs that have been a great force within the community are: Sunday School, Ladies Aid that was established in 1903 (which later became the Women's Society of Christian Service then to United Methodist Women) and the Epworth League organized in 1904 (this group became the United Methodist Youth Group). Many of God's faithful servants have stood behind the original pulpit built by Henry Wilkinson Jones, a local casket maker and undertaker. The first appointed Pastor by the West Virginia Conference was Rev. Lyons. Although patterns of shifting population out of the area have diminished the members that worship at this church, there are many faithful that still hold Sunday School classes every Sunday with circuit preaching on the second and fourth Sunday morning.
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