Mt. Vernon Methodist Church

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

This historical country church has served congregants from the Mt. Vernon area since 1872. A Methodist congregation was active in the area as early as 1858, but in 1871, the pastor of the congregation at Rochester initiated an effort to provide a house of worship for the Mt. Vernon congregation. Building commenced in 1871, although formal transfer of the property to the church did not occur until early 1872. The Mt. Vernon Methodist Church was dedicated on December 5, 1872. The original building, with some later additions and alterations, has served the congregation ever since.

Images

Mt. Vernon Methodist Church, east and north elevations, 2020

Mt. Vernon Methodist Church, north elevation, historical main entrance, 2020

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The beginning of a Methodist congregation at Mt. Vernon dates from 1858, when a circuit preacher in the area visited the community. Mt. Vernon was served by the Rochester circuit after it was organized in 1866, and in 1871, a building to serve the Mt. Vernon congregants was begun. A deed was recorded in January 1872 granting the acre of land on the southeast corner of 28 Mile and Mt. Vernon roads to the trustees of the Mt. Vernon Methodist Episcopal Church. The building was dedicated on December 5, 1872.

The unincorporated village of Mt. Vernon was one of three villages in Washington Township (the others being Washington and Romeo), and received its first non-native settlers in the mid-1820s. The small hamlet was fairly prosperous through the middle of the nineteenth century, but faded away after the railroad line was built through Rochester and Romeo, bypassing Mt. Vernon and consigning it to the pages of history. Still, a small community of residents maintained their local institutions at Mt. Vernon, including various social clubs, a cemetery, and the Methodist church.

During the first 75 years of the church building's existence, very few changes were made to the structure. Since the 1950s, several additions have been made to the original building. A Sunday School room, kitchen, and dining room were added to the back of the building in 1952, and in 1956 the sanctuary walls and ceiling were re-plastered.

According to a congregational history published in 1972, the church bell was acquired from the Rochester Woolen Mill (predecessor of the Western Knitting Mills).

The congregation is still active in 2020. Its name has gone through several iterations along with its larger church body over the decades. Known originally as the Mt. Vernon Methodist Episcopal Church, in 2020 it is the Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church.

Sources

Lysander Shaw and Mary Shaw his wife to Trustees of the Mt. Vernon Methodist Episcopal Church, 6 January 1872, one acre of land in the northwest part of the west half of the northeast quarter of section 30, Washington Township, Macomb County Record of Deeds, liber 66, p.114.

Pohly, Louise. Country Worship: 100 Years in Mount Vernon, 1872-1972. (Mount Vernon, Mich.: Mount Vernon Women's Society of Christian Service, 1972).

Durant, Samuel W. History of Oakland County, Michigan. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts, 1877, p.146.

"Mount Vernon Church Embarks on Second Century of Service," Macomb Daily, May 13, 1972.

"Mount Vernon Church Marks 100 Years," The Oakland Press, May 20, 1972.

"Mt. Vernon Church Has Centennial," Rochester Clarion, May 11, 1972.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Deborah Larsen