St. Clair County Missouri
Churches
MT. HOPE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Near Appleton City, M.
Early History from Appleton City Centennial Book 1870-1970:
The origin of the Mt. Hope Presbyterian Church occurred one-half mile west
of the present
location of the building which was where the Browning School
House was located.
During the summer of 1878 a protracted meeting was held in an arbor by the
school house,
conducted by E. P. Witherspoon and J. Cal Littrel, at the
close of which the church
organization was perfected.
On September 27, 1879, by petition, the Mt. Hope congregation was admitted
to the
Lexington Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and,
henceforth, was recognized
as an officially organized church of that
denomination.
The officers of that first church session were: Elders W.A.Holland, W.P.
Jeremiah, and B.F. Haines; Deacons G.W. Holland and M.W. Hines.
In the spring of 1880, ground was broken and work began. Johnnie Hill, an
Englishman
and a pioneer stonemason, laid the foundation with the assistance
of Charles J. Holland.
Sealed bids for the building were called for and a
Mr. Alspaugh, a builder from Montrose,
was awarded the contract for $1200.
The building was completed in early summer and the dedication sermon was
preached by
J. Cal Littrel, assisted by Pastor Houx.
The charter and early members who gave so generously of their time, talent
and means
were the families of G.W. and W.A. Holland, Erhart, Jeremiah,
Henry Gibbs, Joe Tyree,
W.M. Hines, B.F. Haines, David Dodds, M.V. Brown,
J.D. Brown, L.M. Smith,
Frank Browning, Goldburn and Emma Wilson, John
Moore, Hardy, Snodgrass,
Mary House, Garvin, Payne, Baldwin, Morse, Keeler
and Tom Wilson.
With the arrival of the automobile, many of the families moved their
memberships to
churches in Appleton City and Montrose. Services were
discontinued at Mt. Hope.
The building was unoccupied for several years until the ladies of the Rural
Home Improvement
Club began holding their meetings in the building. It is
now a well-kept community center.
Submitted by Mary Zeiler