Dalton First United Methodist Church: Taking church into the community

Submitted by Dalton First United Methodist Church

Editor’s note: This is the last in a series of articles about the history of Dalton First United Methodist Church.

The entire community is invited to a celebration of the history of Dalton First United Methodist Church to be held in a big tent on Dalton Green today at 10 a.m.

While celebrating 165 years of the history of their church, church members are looking forward to taking the church outside its four walls and into the community. In the past few months, members were at a local gas station where they “bought down gas” — with the church paying some of the cost of each gallon of gas they pumped for anyone who happened to pull in to the station in a two-hour period.

During Lent, members participated in random acts of kindness when they would give a monetary gift to someone to give to a third party along with an “AlreadyPaidForYou.com” card. The card directed the recipient to go to that exact website and tell their story or read stories from people who either gave their gift away or received the gift. Check it out.

What follows are some of the significant highlights that members will be celebrating:

1835: Two Methodist missionaries sent to minister to the Indians in the area and the few whites who had already settled in the Indian Nation.

1847: Church established where the courthouse annex now stands.

1851: Wood frame church built for $500 on same lot.

1883: New brick building dedicated.

1886: One of several additions and renovations carried out to the church facility. A letter written by Mrs. Manly to her son Frank who was living in Philadelphia reported, “The new Methodist Church begins to look fine. The roof is raised very high and with the high tower at the side looks citified.”

1907: Church School annex added to enlarge the building.

1911: Argus and The Dalton Citizen announce that the local Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists combined to hire “a deaconess to live and work among the poor and needy and to minister both spiritually and temporally to those who need care.”

1913: A report in The Dalton Citizen read: “A $4,000 annex to the First Methodist Church for Sunday School rooms was announced ... The Sunday School has grown wonderfully during the past year.” Attendance of 250 was reported in October 1914.

1918: Memorial services held for three from the church who died in World War I. Forty-five church members had served in the war.

1924: Pastor Charles Lipham and his family moved into a new parsonage that was in the yellow brick building on the corner of Cuyler and Thornton.

1930s: Began with a depression and ended amid war jitters. The annual budget averaged about $9,000. The church choir director and organist were each paid $10 a month. (The new wage-hour law set the minimum wage at 25 cents per hour.)

1940s: A bitter World War was endured and the church celebrated its 100th birthday. Vacation time meant no preaching for a month. Church membership reached 1,000 and a Boy Scout troop was sponsored.

1946: Property that held the Hardwick and Looper homes purchased for $26,000 for a new church.

1948: Wesleyan Service Guild purchases chimes that play sacred music heard in the area surrounding the church.

1950: Ground broken for new church building at 500 S. Thornton Ave. Building was dedicated in August 1951. According to the church history (published in 1986): “While there was great rejoicing over having the badly needed new facility, some members were sad over leaving the old church they had grown to love. Others were disappointed that the memorial windows from the old buildings were not saved. An overflow crowd heard Rev. Paul Turner preach the first sermon in the new building.”

1954: First graduation (of 23 students) from the Week Day Kindergarten.

1954: Church library’s creation was reported in The Dalton News.

1958: Pastor Delma Hagood and family moved into a new parsonage.

1961: A new parsonage for the senior pastor J. Walker Chidsey and his family on Atkinson Drive was dedicated by Bishop Owen Smith.

1963: After 11 years in the new church building, the active membership had doubled and two lots south of the church were bought to build an educational wing.

1965: Valley Drive Parsonage dedicated and Associate Pastor Renfroe Watson and family had a new home.

1967: Formal opening of new Church School facility.

1969: Bishop William Cannon preached his first sermon here after his consecration as Bishop on Aug. 4.

1971: Average Sunday School attendance was 500!

1972: Set of 25 English hand bells was given to the church by Mrs. Reba McMillan in memory of her husband Thomas Henry McMillan.

1974: Second Easter Sunday Service at 8:30 a.m. was added.

1975: Addition to Church School building dedicated by Bishop Cannon.

1979: Donna Jean Bassett completed 25 years of continuous service as church organist. Bill Floyd was senior pastor, Boling Thompson the associate pastor.

1982: An Austin Pipe Organ was installed and renovations were done to the chancel areas and choir loft. D.R. Mahan was the guiding force behind this project. Minister: Bill Floyd; music director: Mike Moffitt.

1988: Bell that had been used to call children to Sunday school in 1867 was lost for many years, found, a bell tower was built to house it, and the bell was re-dedicated.

2008: V.D. Parrott family gifted the church with a new organ console to reflect the change to digital electronics. Senior Pastor: Joe Peabody; minister of music: Peter Infanger.

Dalton First United Methodist Church has contributed much to the Dalton area over the past 165 years. You are invited to join its members in celebrating all that this church has meant to the community.

Outreach Pastor Kenny Ott reminded those working on the celebration that “Church isn’t a place you go, and only to a certain extent is church something you do. The church is who WE are, a people connected by a shared belief and a common identity. Part of our calling as followers of Christ is to share the love of Christ with others. But we have to earn the right to tell them about him,” following Christ’s example of loving our neighbors. You are invited to join us in the journey.

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