HISTORY OF THE FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

The first Christian church to be organized in the village of Hawkinsville, Georgia was the Methodist church. The first record of any religious service in Hawkinsville is from 1825, on the banks of the Ocmulgee River, about where the bridges are now. The participants were a diverse group led by their minister Brother McCarroll Peurifoy. Preaching was first done at cross-roads and the homes of village and country folks. The first church of the Methodist congregation was built sometime between 1825 and 1832 at the corner of Dooley and First Streets. This building was occupied until 1857, when a deed was secured from Mr. Simon Merritt for the present site at the corner of Merritt and Dooley Streets, and there the second home of the Methodist Church was built.

By 1895, the congregation had grown to an extent that a larger church was needed. This building served for 56 years until 1951 when an inspired and consecrated congregation under the leadership of its pastor, The Reverend Frank L Robertson, accepted the challenge of a great philanthropist, Eugene W Stetson. Mr. Stetson was raised in Hawkinsville and was President of Guaranty Trust Company of New York. This all came about due to a conversation Charlton Adams had in 1946 with Mrs. Edith Coleman of Macon, who was raised in Hawkinsville. When learning of our Sunday School needs, she suggested he visit her brother Eugene in New York. After Mr. Stetson was visited, he sent $50,000 with the stipulation that we match it. Later he sent $25,000 more. Due to meeting this challenge and the extra donation, we have our present sanctuary which was completed in 1951.

A few years later the members saw a need for more space so again another building program which resulted in a new education building and youth center was dedicated and occupied in 1971. The Harold S. Cochran bequest of $30,000 was used in conjunction with the building program and so there is the recreation hall, Cochran Hall, so named in his memory. This all started with a dream of a Sunday School annex by the pastor, Rev. J.E. Barnhill, a most devoted and loved pastor during the war years 1941-1943.