Gadsden Street United Methodist Church History
The history of our church was recorded by John Appleyard in his book “History of Gadsden Street United Methodist Church” 2001 These are some excerpts from the book.
(Chapter 2, page 8-12) The Methodist Enter the Local Picture. A Mississippi Conference does not appear in the Discipline until 1816, nor in the General Minutes until 1817. However, there had been three Conference sessions there in the prior years with administrative matter executed by the assigned preachers. Following the 1816 Conference, boundaries were determined and the first Mississippi session was held at a private residence north of Natchez, with Bishop Robert R. Roberts presiding. In December 1821, Reverend Talley was assigned as missionary to Pensacola, Mobile and Blakely, Alabama. Florida as a U.S. territory, was now six months old and Alabama had gained statehood. For 1823, the Conference dispatched to this area Reverend Henry P. Cook, whose work was more targeted as it did not include responsibility for Mobile. Short as it was, Reverend Cook’s work was more successful here than that of his predecessors.
Reverend Cook and the Reverend Mr. Maenhant, the priest serving St. Michael’s Church, apparently became friends and cooperated in an unusual way. A choir, composed of Catholics and Methodists, was developed to sing at the Catholic service, a fact which the local editor found “uplifting.” With Reverend Hardy’s arrival to replace Reverend Cook, the consideration of an appropriate site for Methodist services. Previously, Reverend Cook had utilized space in the city-county courthouse and Reverend Hardy had used a former theater (perhaps the Tivoli House). Later he reverted to the courthouse. On May 26, 1827, congregation members agreed to the purchase of a lot at the corner of Intendencia and Tarragona Streets as a future church site. A church was built, marking the erection of the first protestant church in the city, and in Florida, in 1827.
(page 25) By 1878, Methodism’s regional growth had been sufficient for the Conference to create a Pensacola District affiliated within the Alabama Conference. By 1883, the new district had fifteen reported units. The report for 1883 stated that Pensacola’s congregation numbered 176 persons.
(page 27) Pensacola was growing and the Methodist Church elected to grow with it. The Tarragona Street church was becoming inadequate and there was another concern. Rail traffic along Tarragona Street to and from port docks was increasing and the din of switch engines along “railroad street” was disruptive. The leaders discussed building the Palafox Street Church and construction began in 1881.
(page 32-38) Despite some adverse circumstances which might well have worked to religion’s disadvantages, almost all churches were operating successfully in this latter stage of the Victorian era. When the calendar turned its pages and the 20th century dawned, the circumstances dictated the beginnings of the Gadsden Street Methodist Church.
What later was called East Hill was known in 1883 as New City. To meet their educational need, these families acquired land, built a one-room schoolhouse and engaged a teacher. This school was located on Malaga Square, at 10th Avenue and Blount Street. This simple educational step was successful and after some years, as the community’s school population grew, a second, larger building was erected as a replacement. The original Malaga Square building then was left vacant, still the property of its original owners. During many years, Union Sunday School had conducted classes in the Malaga Square building. Weekly attendance there climbed steadily, with clergymen from the area’s protestant churches conducting services on a rotating basis. In 1885, with numbers and religious enthusiasm growing, the building’s owners agreed that the small structure should be given to the Alabama Conference of the Methodist Church South. The intention was that a formal mission should be establish there, since the neighborhood was a substantial distance from the Palafox Street Church and nearby population was developing to a level sufficient for a successful mission. Rev. R. A. Moody, the first clergyman to be assigned by the Conference on Malaga Square, came to the city as a young man and was accompanied by his bride.
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The next step in the Gadsden Street saga came in December 1898, during the pastorate of Reverend D. F. Ellinor of the Palafox Street Church. At that time, a lot was purchased at the corner of 9th Avenue and Lee Street and the small original school building was moved there. A year later, Reverend W. Q. Vreeland attempted to engage all of those then attending the mission to work on behalf of a formal church, but there were some who felt the timing to be too soon and the construction too costly. However, the turn of the century was a time of ever rising prosperity and optimism for the city and so some in the Palafox Street Church congregation came to his aid.
Rev. W. Q. Vreeland⇔
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By 1901, there was sufficient backing to proceed. On January 24, 1901, papers were signed for the purchase of a church site at Gadsden Street and 9th Avenue. Planning and building the new church proceeded with surprising speed. Estimates were obtained and contractor Charles Turner was the successful bidder, using a plan which was to utilize what some termed “pressed brick” in the exterior finish. There was a fund raising effort to provide the approximately $15,000 required for construction. A modest debt did exist when the new facility was occupied, owed to the Conference, which had advanced $10,000. toward the project.
⇔Church under construction.
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As in many such ventures, there are conflicting bits of information related to times and dates. In his account of local Methodism written in 1927, F. W. Hoskins says, “The first service was held on April 2, 1903. The organization was affected with twenty-nine members from the Malaga Square Sunday School and 120 from the Palafox Street Church. The Reverend J. M. Dannelly, pastor of the Palafox Street Church, assisted Reverend W. Q. Vreeland in the service.”
But then there is a surviving church program (bulletin) dated March 30, 1902, which called the day’s service an Easter Rally Day and first universal celebration. The program bears what appears to be a photographic image of the new church, as its construction had carried it to that date and identified Reverend E. R. Hendrix as bishop, Reverend E. L. Crawford as presiding elder and Reverend Vreeland as pastor. The program indicated that speakers on that day were to be Reverend Dannelly, Reverend Crawford (who was from Evergreen, Alabama) and Mr. Joseph Wesley Powell of Buffalo. Seventeen persons were listed as a chorus for that service, with Mrs. J. M. Flynn as organist. The back of the program listed the Executive Committee of W. W. Richards, Jamie Gingles, F. M. Williams and John Richards. Seven other committee roster were listed in full, totaling 154 persons assigned. At the very bottom of the final page of the program, printed by W. W. White, was this statement: This program was made under pressure of much work. Let no one think that the names of all our excellent workers appear in the above committees. The printer was W. W. White.
Since the “anniversary dates” shown on the program are 1901-1902, either those were incorrect, or the account by Mr. Hoskins is flawed. However, in view of the fact that the property was acquired in February 1901, and the final construction payments were dated in May 1902, the program must be seen as correctly dated.
(Chapter 5, page 66) Sunday School classes had been held in rather informal quarters which was sometimes called “the primary” when the church was constructed, yet by 1918, there was an opportunity and a need to proceed with a true education building. On March 3rd, a building committee was appointed. When completed in 1919, the building was said to have room for up to 500 scholars.
(Chapter 6, page 89) One highlight of the mid-1930’s was the raising of funds and purchase of an organ from Wicks Organ Company, Highland, Illinois. “This organ was dedicated August 15, 1937, to the memory of two beloved organists, Lille Williams Perry and Thelma Rosholt Nobles.” The organ was acquired through voluntary gifts.
(page 107-110) For Gadsden Street, the early 1950s continued with what some might have called “business as usual” throughout the church. It was in 1952 that stewards determined that problems generated by growth had to be addressed soon and so they began formal planning for a wholesale church enlargement.
The Board received the initial plot plan in February 1953. Architect Frank Sindelar had opted for retaining the sanctuary, transferring its use to that of a chapel. Then, he proposed construction of a new sanctuary which would face north and south, to the east of the present sanctuary. The new facility would be a 15,800 square foot building with a balcony, overall capability of seating over 1,600.
Next would come erection of a large L-shaped Sunday School building, linked to the existing 1919 education builds. Sindelar also proposed long-range thinking for still another Sunday School and fellowship structure. This construction would be done in phases. The plan would require purchase of four building lots on the block not owned by the church. The architect estimated the total plan cost at over $630,000.
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At this point young J. J. Crooke, Jr. phased into the design picture. A graduate architect, Crooke had grown up in the church and had returned to Pensacola after military service and completion of his university studies. A building committee member asked if Mr. Crooke might be asked to offer a second design, with a plan to make basic renovation to the existing Sunday School building and to build a new one, paralleling Jackson Street. Crooke quickly complied. His estimates suggested that these two works could be completed for approximately $255,000. This proposal gained approval of a majority and so contracts were let. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held March 20, 1955.
⇔Groundbreaking Ceremonies
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(Chapter 8, page 122-124) In 1963 church attendance remained high, with the two-service plan seemingly satisfying most. The library, which had begun with limited resources had grown. There was need too for additional office space, for storage and a broadening of materials used by youth groups, women’s groups and more. Conversations began for a second step in the church’s long-range building plans and in August 1965, ground was broken on what was to be the Vic Shepard Build, the next phase of expansion. On August 14, 1966, the Vic Shepard Building was dedicated. In the finished format, the first floor was to be used for adult classes, offices of the church school superintendent and the much enlarged library.
The largest headline for Methodism in 1966 came when the United Brethren and Methodist churches agreed to merge, with the date to be effective two years hence.
(page 128) The decade of the ‘70’s began on a high note for Northwest Florida. For Gadsden, major renovations to the 1919 school building were completed, giving the structure a revised basement, a first floor which held offices for several functions, a large pastor’s study and a chapel. There was also a large meeting room in the center. The second floor now held improved classrooms.
Installed in 1973 were the Mass-Rowe Organ Chimes. “In loving memory of L. W. Weekley by Mrs. L. W. Weekley and children.”
(Chapter 9, page 148) In 1978, Fayette and Jewell Dennison presented a Maas-Rowe Carillon to the church. The instrument’s chimes became a much-appreciated feature for members and neighbors alike. In fact, sometime later when lightning struck the steeple and temporarily disable the instrument, there were numerous calls from nearby, with concerned friend asking what had happed to the chimes.
(Chapter 10, page 168-194) The 1990’s proved to be a time of greater solidarity for the church, but also a time when member numbers continued to decline. The was a full-scale effort to improve attendance as the 1991 began and the first Sunday results were rewarding. The service drew 328 and Sunday School 182, both well above ongoing numbers. And as the year progressed, there were numerous opportunities to note the good works of members. 1994, saw the community’s leaders concerned over changes in local economies. At year’s end, Congressman Earl Hutto said that there was a good prospect that the Navy would move all of its basic technical training to Pensacola, rotating some 20,000 students through the local base every year. These projections would be confirmed the following year. Other Northwest Florida happenings center around the propect of extending Interstate 65 closer to Escambia County.
As 1995 began, one ongoing church activity that maintained its strengths in numbers was the Wednesday evening dinner and program. Committee members were diligent in obtain interesting speakers for programs, some of which were linked to missions or other special church interests.
By this time, the church, like many other Methodist congregation, had embarked on a long-range planning effort which was appropriately called Vision 2000. The question put by vision was basic: What do we want this church to be and to do as a new century dawns? Ideas poured in and were cataloged and discussed by the primary committee.
At the close of 1996 church officers and the pastor expressed mild disappointment when the year’s statistics showed that average worship service attendance was only 184, while 155 attended Sunday School. Looking back on almost a century of church membership, Mrs. Elsie Carter, whose memory remained sharp, said that she had always felt good about the clergy. “There were some who were better preacher than others, but I think they all tried to be good leaders and to help the people.”
And so the story of the Gadsden Street United Methodist Church enter the year 2000. Surely this was a fascinating time for church and membership. a new century and a new millennium had begun, a new President of the United States would be elected and as such things evolved, citizens everywhere focused on changes affection the nation and its people.
A major church restoration of the interior of the sanctuary was completed in 2000.
“Gadsden Street Methodist Church has seen changes in its century,” Reverend Rhodes commented. “It’s neighborhood surely has changed; its numbers have changed from a time when this was the church of greatest membership in the district, to a period when we must look carefully at our demographics, to prepare programs necessary for those who worship here today and to those we hope to attract to sustain us in the future.”
And so they story ends . . . for this century. What will Gadsden Street be in twenty-five years? In fifty? Will it still be in the same location? Will its membership be larger? Smaller? No one can be certain. However, one value in recording the story told in these pages is to set an example for those who will come. When future leaders see the struggles, the financial pain, the hours of effort, the willingness to teach, to preach, to heal . . . hopefully they will realize the debt tomorrow owes to the saints of the past. That is what our story has been all about.
For additional information on the “personalities” of Gadsden through the years,
you can obtain a copy of Appleyard’s book in the church office.
Roll of Ministers: 1896 - 2009
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1896-1897
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R. A. Moody
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1943-1947
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Carlton Preer
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1897-1898
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D. F. Ellisor
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1947-1950
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W. E. Middlebrooks
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1898-1899
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W. A. Prince
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1950-1951
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T. P. Chalker
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1899-1904
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W. Q. Vreeland*
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1951-1953
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E. A. Childs
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1904-1908
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F. H. Rogers
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1953-1957
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Hugh E. Wilson, Jr.
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1908-1909
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E. C. Moore
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1957-1962
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C. H. Hildreth
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1909-1911
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T. Y. Abernathy
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1962-1965
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Welton Gregory
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1911-1915
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J. A. Peterson
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1965-1969
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H. Paul Mathison
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1915-1919
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H. W. Rice
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1969-1972
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Ennis Sellers
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1919-1922
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W. P. Hurt
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1972-1976
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Marcus Smith
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1922-1925
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W. H. McNeal
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1976-1983
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Charles C. Hays, Jr.
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1925-1927
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R. A. Moody
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1983-1990
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Doug Newton
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1927-1928
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P. B. Wells
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1990-1993
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Bob Dickerson
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1928-1929
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J. O. Grogan
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1993-1995
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Mike Roberts
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1929-1933
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D. H. McNeal
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1995-1999
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Ed Britton
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1933-1937
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R. R. Ellison
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1999-2003
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Dan Rhodes
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1937-1939
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W. M. Curtis
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2003-2007
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David McVay
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1939-1943
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W. E. Middlebrooks
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2007-
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John Baxter
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* First Minister at new (and current) location
Roll of Associate Pastors: 1977-2009
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1961-1963
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Douglas Newton
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1977-1983
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No Associate
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1963-1966
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David Adams
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1983-1986
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Jeffrey Spicer
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1966-1969
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John Gryan
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1986-1989
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Mike Sigler
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1969-1971
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Janice Whitehurst
(Christian Education Assistant)
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1989-1993
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Steve Winton
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1971-1974
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Joe Reams
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1993-2006
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No Associate
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1974-1975
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John Weeks
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2006-
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Robin Noble
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1975-1977
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Robert Penton
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