It was the dead of winter when a small group of people met in the home of Judge C. B. Ames on the northern outskirts of the new settlement of Macon.

There were nine of them -- these Methodist pioneers who wanted a new church in this new land.

It was February 4, 1834 -- the same year that Macon was named and officially became a town. Settlers had been here for a while already, building homes and opening businesses on the bank of the Noxubee Rive, since late December of 1833 -- perhaps a few even before that. It would only be about two years (1836) before the original Methodist congregation built the first church building.

Only two weeks after the first meeting in the Ames home, this time March 4, another group met to follow up on the decisions of the first group of nine.

This time there were 24 person. The meeting was again held in the Ames Home. The church was formed at this meeting and for about seven months services were held in the homes of those twenty-four people.

In November of 1834, under the sponsorship of the Alabama Conference, the Macon Methodist Episcopal Church was organized and taken into the Noxubee Circuit (the spelled “Noxuby”). The Rev. Elisha Calloway was named Pastor in November of that year.

The records of the church were largely consumed by fire in the year 1929, but an entry in an 1834 Alabama Journal of the Conference lists the Macon church with a membership of 158 white and 22 colored.

Meanwhile, upon completion of the early organization of the Town of Macon, ground was given over by the town officials to the Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist churches. After an agreement among the churches, the Methodists assumed ownership of a portion of Fractional Block 7 along the South side of Eighth Street. Today the original church building constructed on that spot in 1836 still stands at 303 West Eighth. It has been used down through the years as a residence and today’s generation knows it as “The Tom Tyson House”. It is the oldest building in Macon.

The original church was a one-room affair, described in the oldest accounts available as having a hallway just inside the front (North) door and a wood-burning stove in the center of the space. As one entered the front door, to the left was the pulpit from where Rev. Calloway delivered his sermons. The pastor faced the people who were on the right (West side) with the men and women sitting in separate places. Immediately around the warmth of the stove the small children lay on pallets. Beyond the pallets on the Southside sat the colored members.

For sixteen years, from 1836 to 1852, the church met here.

In 1851, feeling the call for a larger and more serviceable building, the members sold the structure and acquired the present lot upon which today’s building stands. The price was $250.00 and the lot was purchased from Mr. And Mrs. D. Hines. Building began in September of 1851 and was completed in February of 1852. A gentlemen named Neal Bartee was paid $8,000.00 for the construction.

The church took advantage of the occasion to hold a revival meeting centered around the laying of the cornerstone. The central core of today’s church dates back 132 years to those 1851-1852 days. Of course, there have been remodeling, renovations and additions, but the inner core of the church remains virtually intact.

The church took another significant step in her history at this same time, the summer of 1852, when she removed herself from the Macon Circuit and took on the status of a full fledged station -- an independent church body of Methodism in the growing central section of Mississippi. The Macon church was the most influential and the largest Methodist church between Columbus and Meridian.

The vicious tragedy of the Civil War, while not touching Macon or her churches with actual gunfire or combat, nevertheless brought the stark cold reality of blood and tears here when the Methodist Church became one of several Macon institutions acting in the humanitarian role of hospital.

The Mobile and Ohio Railroad, in the United States’ effort to bind the nation more tightly together, moved the iron rails through Noxubee County in the mid 1850’s. The line ran about a mile west of town and actually brought about a “new town” when a string of businesses sprang up alongside it, plus a cluster of residences.

When the casualties of Civil War battles at Shiloh, Brice’s Crossroad, Corinth and Okolona began moving South on the railroad cars, hundreds were taken off at Macon for treatment and burial. The rows of white crosses in Odd Fellows Cemetery today grimly and silently attest to this.

The basement of the Methodist Church was opened as a hospital during the agonizing time.

The Civil War’s all-pervasive shock-effect upon Macon’s normally quiet, unobtrusive existence had another historically noteworthy phase. When Gov. Charles Clark and the legislature fled Jackson to escape Gen. Grant’s advance beyond Vicksburg, Macon briefly became the capital city of Mississippi. The Methodist Church became the capitol building. The state legislature met for official sessions in the church before going on to Columbus.

The Christian involvement on the Macon Methodist Church in the care of the wounded and dying Civil War soldiers is a warm example of the right answer to Cain’s question in Genesis -- “Am I My Brother’s Keeper?”

Our answer to that question was “YES” and stands as one of the most Christ-centered works of the church’s ministry to humanity in our 150-year history.

During the years prior to the Civil War the congregations were called “societies” and their leader was considered the most influential person in the church, with the exception of the pastor, or course. The leader was called the “class leader”. It was an organization similar to the Sunday School we have today but not quite the same. Before the Civil War the congregations took an extremely dim view of anyone’s not attending the “society” or the church services. This disapproval took the form on several occasions of dismissing offenders from membership, to be taken back upon proper repentance and request. This practice ceased when the Civil War ended.

The church has on several occasions down through the years held services and celebration of her progress and development.

In 1937 a dedication service was held Sunday, May 23, for the Mary Dent Minor Memorial Organ, with Rev. J. W. Robertson presiding. The splendid music and the rich tones of the organ frames this day in beauty and splendor. An attractive printed folder with a picture of the church on the front was printed and distributed to members and guests.

One of the more noteworthy of these events was the 100^th anniversary of the construction of the present church building.

This observance was held in March 1952 with the centennial being specifically commemorated on Sunday, March 23. Former pastors, district officers, former members with their families, all joined with the members to pay respect to “One Hundred Years of Methodism at this Hallowed Spot.”

The late Ed Hardin was chairman of the Centennial Celebration, with B. C. Ford, Lester Chancellor and P. K. Bethany taking leading roles in the promotion and conduct of the event.

In June of 1968 a group of people in the church withdrew their membership and organized the Independent Methodist Church at 511 North Washington Street.