PERKINSVILLE
COMMUNITY CHURCH
OUR HISTORY
Excerpt taken from Perkinsville and Vicinity II
by Henry Rinker
1824
Mr. Bononi Freel built a cabin near the town of Perkinsville and organized a Methodist Society for worship that consisted of a handful of settlers.
1828
The society began meeting in the Perkinsville settlement. William Parkins, for whom the town was named, was the first minister
and preached the first funeral in this part
of Madison County. In addition to being
a minister, he was also a blacksmith and
in his spare time wielded an ax to help
clear the land. He also built the first hand-powered mill in Perkinsville and later the
first water-powered mill.
1837
When the town was laid out, it was named for William Parkins, but a mistake was made in the spelling of his name and the plat was put on record as “Perkinsville”. The members of the Methodist Society met in a private home
for some time, but in 1850, the membership decided to purchase two lots in the town of Perkinsville for twenty-five dollars for the purpose of building a house of worship. On these lots a brick building was erected.
1888
The old brick walls of the church were pulled down by horses and a new larger brick building was built. Part of the brick from
the old church was built into this new church. The rest of the brick needed was baked on the Nellie Shell Farm just north of Perkinsville.
1889
The new church building was
dedicated on February 17, 1889.
1949
The Lord’s Acre Project was started in 1949. People of the community pledged the profits of one acre of ground for the building fund. The first years of the Lord’s Acre Festival consisted of a parade, pony rides and
serving meals. After a few years the parade was abandoned and a fish fry was initiated.
The Fish Fry is still an annual event.
1988
On Sunday, May 15, 1988, the Perkinsville United Methodist Church celebrated their
100th year in the present building with a homecoming dinner. A worship service was
conducted as well, and people from as far away as Georgia and Alaska attended.