The town of Schell City was laid out in the spring of 1871, by the Schell City Town Company. The town site was purchased from J. P. Maus, the Presbyterian Synod of Missouri, and Mr. Sturgis. Originally the site was settled by Jeff Rouser, who, in about 1856, built a cabin in what is now the northwest part of town. In May, 1871, the first building, a small one-story affair, was erected on the southeast corner of Third and Main streets.

M. K. & T. Depot

Robinson School

   Seeing the need of religious influence in the new community Rev. P. Moffett organized the town's first church in the M. K. & T. Railroad Depot on January 2, 1872. Labeled the Methodist Episcopal Church, the group met there with Ira R. Kirker as the leader for a year before they moved the services to the Robinson School three miles south of town. 

   By 1878, the Methodist Episcopal Church reorganization had occurred and a building was begun in the town of Schell City with Rev. W. S.    Courtney. The sanctuary, erected at an expense of $2500, stands today. Mr. Ira Coble hauled stone for the laying of the foundation.

Schell City Methodist Church 1890’s

Methodist Church Group at home

of W.F. Maring 1890’s

   At the time of the original construction there were one hundred members. By 1907, it had climbed to two hundred forty-nine.

   Many of the church records have been destroyed. The June 1907 directory of the Schell City Charge, then in the Sedalia District, is the oldest that still exists. This charge included Schell City and Harwood. 

Schell City UMC Annex

   The church annex was erected in 1921 while the Rev. J. M. Mason was the pastor. It was dedicated when the Sedalia District Conference was held there on August 29, 30, and 31, 1921. It has provided ample room for church dinners, parties, and wedding receptions. One of the improvements to the church building was the installation of a red carpet from the front door down the center aisle of the main auditorium.

   On May 10, 1939, the Methodist Episcopal South united with the Methodist Protestant Church to form the Methodist Church. Then in 1968 the church became affiliated with the United Brethren. The denomination is known today as the United Methodist Church. 

New roof 1986

  In late 1980’s part's of the church was repaired.

  The basement was fixed

  Then a new roof was put on around Aug. of 1986

  Next  we had the church resided.

In June of 2002, during a Sunday Service, Rev. Donald Bliss said he would like to have red doors. The following Sunday the church had red doors.

   On December 23, 2002, the church started its website. It has the church history, Pastor’s Biography, directions on how to get to the church, and the banners.

Schell City UMC, 2003

   On February 11, 2003, the church moved the website to United Methodist Churches: Web Hosting by General Board of Global Ministries, but left the banner pages on the old host because they are too big for GBGM so we put a link to the banners.

   On Feb. 14, 2003 the church bought a domain name.

   On June 29 2003 was Pastor Patricia J. Myers’ first Sunday.

   On August 30, 2003, we changed the domain name to

(www.scumc.com).

November 22, 2004

On July 05, 2004 A Plus Roofing started putting our new roof on