Mt. Jackson Methodist Church

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On March 30, 1786 Methodist members of the community now called Mt. Jackson purchased a one acre plot of land near Red Banks for five shillings. Eventually they built a church called Bethel Ford Methodist Meeting House on this site.

Over time, the congregation at Bethel grew. The Red Banks community was increasingly prosperous and populated.

However the church discontinued worship at the site in the early 19th century and moved to a small building on what is now Orkney Grade. While the reasons for this move have been lost, it most likely occurred as the town of Mt. Jackson was being formed. This action resulted in the eclipse of the Red Banks community and the emergence of the town as the central location in that portion of the county. This change meant the church would have to move to preserve it place in the center of the community, and its constituents, lives.

Later, the building along Orkney Grade was abandoned and the congregation began to meet in Mt. Jackson’s centrally located Union Church. This building had been constructed in 1825 to benefit all denominations in the area and the Methodists would have taken advantage of the opportunity to occupy a newer, more modern, and centrally located church.

In 1884 they decided to once again build a church of their own. The structure was built on land purchased from the Triplett family on what was then Doyle Street. In the 1930s the church was able to remodel the structure and add several stained glass “memorial windows. A basement was added in the 1940s and an education wing in 1985.