History of Louisville United Methodist Church

For more than 100 years, the Louisville United Methodist Church has held a place at the center of the community.  It was incorporated as the Methodist Episcopal Church of Louisville in August 1891, when the land deed on which the church still stands was also filed.  The original congregation totaled 29 members.

The church building welcomed its first worshipers one year later in a square sanctuary.  It had double doors and a round window on the east wall and the pews facing south.  A small room on the west side served as a Sunday School classroom and sleeping quarters for visiting student ministers.  The north alcove was added in 1910, along with a new entry and bell tower.  The old double doors are still visible from the outside.

The sanctuary was rearranged in 1937, with the pews facing west.  The former pulpit alcove became the choir loft.  The round window on the eastern wall was covered, as the light shone directly in the ministers' eyes.

The Fellowship Hall was added in a 1941 remodel, and in 1983 the sanctuary was renovated to look like it did in 1892.

An extensive, two-story addition was completed in 2000.  It added much-needed classrooms, storage and office space, as well as a new kitchen and rest rooms.

For much of its early existence, LUMC was served by student ministers, sometimes sharing their services with Lafayette's congregation.  The first full-time minister was appointed in 1978.

Since its incorporation, the church has been an active member of the community.  Louisville's annual Fall Festival began as the church bazaar in 1932, and a tradition of handing out Christmas treats to the town's children was begun in 1910.  Today's food basket program was begun in 1982. 

For a time, the church was used as an annex for the overcrowded public school located across the street (what is now Memory Square Park). Until World War II, the church was at the center of social activities, especially for the town's youth.