St. Paul's Methodist Protestant Church (Culbertson, Nebraska)

St. Paul's Methodist Protestant Church, also known as Stone Church, is a church building located south of Culbertson, Nebraska, United States, on Nebraska Highway 17. It was built in 1900 and was added to the National Register in 1979.[1]

St. Paul's Methodist Protestant Church
Nearest cityCulbertson, Nebraska
Coordinates40°6′52″N 100°48′55″W
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1900
Built byJames L. Hoyt
NRHP reference No.79001446[1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 25, 1979

History
Stone Church historical marker

In 1885, a sod church was built to accommodate the growing population of the area along Driftwood Creek.[2][3] Methodist minister M.H. Noe led the first worship services in the sod building the same year.[2] The current building stands across the road from the original sod church.[2]

Construction

Building the Stone Church which succeeded the sod church was a community endeavor, with most of the labor donated by parishioners.[2] Limestone was quarried from a local rock formation and hauled by wagon to the construction site, roughly 5 miles (8.0 km) away.[2][3][4] Church members cut, hewed, and loaded the limestone by hand under the supervision of Jim Flynn and local stonemason James Lewellyn Hoyt.[2][3][4] Hoyt's sons, who at ages eight and ten were too small to load the stones, were tasked with placing dynamite charges to blast the limestone apart in the quarry.[2] The acre of land upon which the church was built was donated by Rebecca Hart.[2][3]

The church's construction is impressive considering that, at the time of its construction, the majority of its parishioners still lived in unimproved sod houses and dugouts.[2] Construction on the church was finished in 1900 and dedicated as the St. Paul Methodist Protestant Church led by Reverend J.E. Darby.[3]

Dedication to Disuse

Four years later, the congregation of St. Paul Methodist Protestant Church merged with the local group of United Brethren in Christ in 1904.[3] In 1907, the church was formally reorganized as United Brethren.[3] Regular church services continued in the building until 1951.[2][3]

The Stone Church was a cornerstone of the Driftwood Community until the 1950s.[2][3] The church was the home of the local Sunday school, an orchestra, and various local events.[2] In the early twentieth century, the Stone Church was also the polling place of the community.[2]

Restoration

At a celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the church's construction, a committee was organized to restore the building.[2] Over the course of seventy-five years, the structure had been damaged in several ways.[2] Since the restoration process began, the roof has been replaced, the walls have been reinforced, and faulty electrical wiring has been removed.[2] The interior of the building has been restored to a similar state to its original construction.[2]

The Stone Church has neither plumbing nor electricity due to the era of its construction and its remote location.[2] The building is not in regular use, but is maintained by the Stone Church Community Association as a memorial to the settlers who built it.[3] Annual gatherings are held at the Stone Church to commemorate and celebrate the church and its construction.[2]

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Memories long at the old Stone Church". McCook Gazette. 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  3. "Nebraska Historical Marker: Stone Church - E Nebraska History". www.e-nebraskahistory.org. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  4. Daniel Kidd (December 1978). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: St. Paul's Methodist Protestant Church / The Stone Church". National Park Service. Retrieved April 14, 2017. With five photos.
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