History

The original land that contained the first then Methodist church in the town of Ellston was purchased by the United Presbyterian Church in 1893 from Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Hughey, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Hughey, Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Fouser, anny A. Goodell, Idella Newman and W. D. Fouser. The church that was built on this land had front doors on the north and ran north to south along Sherman Street. This church was sold to the Methodists in 1902 for $750. We know then that Methodists were already worshipping in the area in the Cornwall church 3 miles north of Ellston or at High Point Church 5 miles south of Ellston. In the dedication history 1960 it is mentioned that at that time a long time member of the church at that time, Lena Hoff, had been a Methodist since 1989 when she joined the Cornwall church. The first pastor was E. J. Mitchell came from Weldon, Iowa by train to do the weekend services.

The brick sanctuary was built in 1959 and dedicated in May of 1960. Most information indicates that O. Z. Jones and John Grose were instrumental in providing the motion to build a new church. In 1957, to make money for a new church, the parsonage was sold to Mrs. Martha Green for $800. This property was later given back to the congregation in 1993 by the Green family. The actual process toward building the church began when the congregation purchased the adjoining west lots for $1 in 1958. This was known as the Treickler Lumber Yard which was between the church and the parsonage. The planning committee from the board at that time included the families of O. Z. Jones, Jim Jones, Clark Jennings, Leo Morgan, David Jennings, Raymond Green, Donald Flohra, Lyle Hosfield, Harvey Lamb, John Grose, Wilbur Lay, Cecil Cornwall, Lena Hoff, Sadie Johnston, Charlotte Dickson, and Ena Hoff.

The congregation started a fund drive and began to raise money for the new church by gleaning corn fields, lunching sales, renting corn and oats ground, mowing the cemetery, and money from Sunday school class projects like suppers, etc. Several men from the church traveled to look at a church at Rosedale, Iowa and decided we would use a similar plan. The carpenter on the project was Milt Henderson whose assistant was Lyle Hosfield. They were helped by most of the men of the community in running cement, etc. Many women and children also helped in sanding and finishing the ceiling and painting the walls. The new church was built west of the old brown church with the front facing the east and running east to west along Main Street. The approximate cost of this church was $25,000. The congregation continued to worship in the old church while the new church was built. In fact the front steps of the church were not added until after the old church was demolished. The wood in the old church is now a corn crib south of Ellston as Leo Morgan bought it at auction for $320 and tore it down to re-use the lumber.

The first actual service in the church was in October 5, 1959, the wedding of Jeanine Jackson and Bernard Walters. The church building was complete, but finish work was stopped by weeks of rain, in fact the basement was full of water at the time. Jeanine asked the board if they could go ahead and use the church for the wedding if her family built steps and moved the pews over into the sanctuary. The couples families did build wooden steps to the north for people to use. The cement steps were not added till the old church had been torn down. Jeanine sat on the basement steps looking at the water waiting on the bridal march. The congregation decided to continue using the church as finish work continued.

The next sacrament recorded was the baptism of Craig Greene, son of Dale and Alice Greene and Janelle Morgan daughter of Leo and Darlene Morgan in early 1960.

One of the benefits of this new church was that a bathroom instead of an out house could be used and a kitchen with running water was available for harvest suppers. In those years the fall harvest supper was a time that over 200 people would come to eat and donate money. This money along with the money received from the selling of corn donated by local farmers was used to pay expenses for the coming year.

The bell from the original church was placed south east of the new building on a tower and continued to ring in the start of services. The steps to the sanctuary were quite steep and in an attempt to be handicap accessible a cement ramp was built to the south of the landing.

The basement provided a space for activities, but it was cramped and the stairs were steep to the bath room and fellowship hall. Therefore, in 1989 the congregation purchased the lots south of the church with the hopes of expanding. Eventually, with the guidance of Charlie Manders, a plan for an indoor ramp to the sanctuary, two accessible bathrooms, large kitchen and fellowship hall was approved by the congregation. In 2007, we started a 3 year building fund campaign with the United Methodist Church Building Foundation. The co-chairmen for this project were Don Lang and Maurice Jones. Other members of this planning committee included Dale and Alice Green, Charlie and Bonnie Manders, Mickie Bergeson, Nancy Derscheid, Paula Anderson, Marilyn Lang, Leola Dolecheck, Peggy Murrow, Gene Bullock and Marsha Jones. In 2008 we broke ground with our oldest member, Lela Dukes and youngest member Grant Anderson turning the first soil. By fall 2008, we dedicated the new 4,000+ square feet addition. The cost of $210,000 was paid for by contributions from the congregation and community as well as a Builder’s Call grant of $35,000 from the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church. The trustees who provided much of the leadership and decision making for this addition included Charlie Manders, who also served as project manager, Kenny Bergeson, chairmen, Jerry Yates, Curt Greene, Nancy Derscheid, Sal Posegate and Maurice Jones. The Pastors that led us during this time were Joyce Smith and Dan Fernandez.

The basement is now a tornado shelter for the town of Ellston while the new fellowship hall allows for 2^nd Sunday brunches, Bible studies, fellowship after services, youth “room” to play games and plenty of room for meetings, dinners and programs.

O.W. Brown

M.R. Talley

L.F. Brown

F.A. Mead

Armstrong

Robert J. Tennant

J.A.E. Cunningham

Henry W. Brewer

Virgil Henderson

P.C. Kenton

L.H. Duncan

L.S. Smith

Alta M. Nichols

K.E. Nexbitt

H.H. Hunt

Cecil Saville

E. Loring Carter

Leo G. Wolfe

J.A. Walls

Jack Fisher

Ida I. Roberts

C.E. Thomas

L. M. Kirby

Boyd Ruffner

A.R. Weed

Geo. C. Wise

Charles H. Hawn

'Willis H. Grant

Sam Bouser

John Braden

Jerry Nichols

John Blackadar

Robert Shreve

Lloyd Johnson

Les Calhoun

Dwight Bonham

Jim Schutter

Jack Kendall

Ellen Samuels

Don and Dora Campbell

Jeff Flagg

Brain Oliver

Dan Fernandez

Joyce Smith

Dan Fernandez