Pulaski First United Methodist Church/2nd Street Church of Christ

Pulaski's First United Methodist congregation was founded in 1831. From the 1850s-1890s, they met in a building on N. 2nd Street & Washington Street. After the Methodists built their current red brick church on the northwest corner of the square, they sold their old building to the 2nd Street Church of Christ congregation, who occupies it to this day.

(see below for additional information)

Pulaski's First United Methodist congregation was founded in 1831 and first met in a building on S. 1st Street.

In 1854 the Methodists constructed a brick building at 2nd Street & Washington Street. This building had a bell tower at the front, with a balcony underneath the tower serving as seating for the enslaved congregation before the Civil War.

During the Civil War, the building was used as a hospital by United States troops. Another story tells of a Methodist Confederate Army chaplain hiding in the bell tower for several days to avoid capture by U.S. troops during the war.

During the war the white congregation ceased to hold their church meetings. However, the black congregation (some enslaved and some recently liberated) were allowed to continue meeting in the church basement on their own. After the war, those congregants formed their own churches, one of which would become today's Campbell's Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1896, the Methodists finished construction on their red brick building at the northwest corner of the square, on 2nd & Jefferson Streets. They sold their old church building to the Church of Christ, who had previously been meeting in the Bannister Hall building (north end of west side of the square).

Giles County Historical Society

Church On The Square: A History of the First United Methodist Church, Pulaski, Tennessee, by John Abernathy Smith