Methodists have been worshipping in the Dalton area since before the city was even founded, and today the Dalton First United Methodist Church will celebrate its 165th anniversary and the heritage of the local Methodist community.
“We will have a service at the Dalton Green at 10 a.m. We’ve gotten the tent company that sets up the tent every year for the Kiwanis pancake breakfast to set up a tent for us,” said Hassell Herrin, church historian.
The public is invited.
The first Methodist missionaries came to the Dalton area to preach to the Cherokees and the scattered white families here in 1835.
In 1847, Dalton’s founder, Edward White, built a church at the intersection of Crawford Street and Selvidge Street, near what is now the Dalton Green, for the joint use of Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians. White asked Levi Brotherton, an ordained Methodist minister, to preach or arrange for a preacher each Sunday.
Three years later, White sold lots to each of the denominations. The Methodists chose a lot nearby at the intersection of King and Selvidge Streets and built their church there. Brotherton preached the first sermon at that church. That property would remain the church’s home for almost 100 years, until the church moved to Thornton Avenue.
“That is the reason we are going to have the service on Dalton Green,” Herrin said.
Herrin says that last year he found in the archives of Emory University the handwritten outline of the sermon by Levi Brotherton.
“I gave a copy of the sermon to Robin Lindsey, who is the pastor of the church now. He is going to use that outline for his sermon on Sunday,” Herrin said. “He also found a costume company in Atlanta and rented a costume that matches the apparel that ministers wore in the 1840s, and he’ll be wearing that.”
Herrin says the service will also feature gospel music that dates to the 1840s.
“We are encouraging everyone to wear period apparel or something close to it. But that’s not required,” Herrin said. “We invited previous ministers to come if they can. We will also recognize all living church members who were baptized in the King Street building.”
Features
August 5, 2012
Dalton First Methodist Church celebrates 165th anniversary today
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