Columbia Methodist Episcopal Church, South

Established only 11 years after the initial founding of Columbia, the Columbia Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is situated in a modest brick church building originally constructed in 1891. When the church was first founded, Columbia was still in an era of circuit riders, pastors who traveled between communities to give sermons. The first circuit riders arrived in Columbia in 1810, when the town was still an unincorporated settler community. The circuit riders that were assigned to the community around the Early County Mission in Georgia served settlements on both sides of the Chattahoochee River. Eventually thanks to the efforts of the riders, a small Methodist preaching house was founded in 1832, marking the starting point of this church community. Circuit riders served the small church community until 1845 when a full-time pastor was appointed by the Alabama Annual Conference. The original small one-room building served the community of local Methodists through the turbulent years of the Civil War.

In January of 1865, the church was renamed the Methodist Episcopal Church South. While the congregation was a smaller one in 1885 with only 27 members on the roll, the church was growing and bought land for the new church here. The original structure of this church was of a wooden frame design that was built in 1891 for the cost of $2,000. Its first service was on July 14th of that year, hosted by Reverend J. M. Brown, and was dedicated on September 27, 1891. 

As the Columbia community grew, so did the church membership, by 1945 the church records showed 1164 names on the church membership rolls. The building was converted to brick in 1949 and then expanded in 1956 and 1979. A historical marker was added in 2009 by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, S.A. and Gerry Williams, and the Columbia United Methodist Church.

Cox, Dale. Historic Churches of Columbia, Alabama, ExploreSouthernHistory.com. January 1st 2011. Accessed December 7th 2020. https://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/columbiachurches.html.

Hilton, Mark. Columbia Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Historical Marker Database. June 16th 2016. Accessed December 7th 2020. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=73363.

History, Columbia United Methodist Church. Accessed December 7th 2020. http://columbia-umc.org/about/history.

Who We Are, Where We've Been, Columbia Methodist United Church. January 1st 2001. Accessed December 7th 2020. http://columbiaumc.tripod.com/columbiaumc/id2.html.