Below is a partial extraction from the
"Myrtle Grove United Methodist Church 'A Fifty Year History' 1943-1993"
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- In 1886 James Wilson Williams and his wife deeded an acre of land to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The actual church building was built in 1877 prior to 1886. At that time, 1877, Myrtle Grove School was located nearby. The cemetery, as was the custom was started near the church. Both the church and the school were at the center of the community. The church was built on the southwest corner of what is now known as Lillian Highway and Fifty-seventh Avenue.
- The first Methodist church building in Myrtle Grove consisted of a small sanctuary with a steeple and a bell. It was constructed of a grey clapboard siding. The pulpit, encircled with an altar rail, was located at the south end of the building. A pump organ was on the west side of the rail. Two pews were nearby for the choir. A Mr. Shiver played the organ for many years.
- In either 1932 or 1933 the church was torn down. The parts of the structure that were usable were given to a church in Bellview. Why was the church abandoned and destroyed? Some people say it was to make more room for the cemetery. Others say the reason was that the church members had already left and no one was using the building. Long before the early thirties, many of its members had transferred their membership to Richards Memorial Methodist Church. There was no Methodist Church in Myrtle Grove for at least eleven or twelve years before the present Methodist Church was begun.
- The present Myrtle Grove United Methodist church began in November of 1943 on the Saturday after Thanksgiving when a meeting was held in Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Sherrer's living room. The purpose of the meeting was to organize a Methodist Church in Myrtle Grove.
- Although Myrtle Grove Methodist Church did not have a building, the congregation did have worship services and a Sunday School. In January of 1944 they began meeting on Sunday afternoons at Myrtle Grove School. Worship Services were at 2:30 p.m., and Sunday School was at 3:30 p.m.
- On December 12, 1943, Myrtle Grove was recognized as a church by the quarterly conference. The West End Charge, which was now to include Myrtle Grove along with Pine Forest and Ensley, was renamed the Pine Forest Charge. The little Group that had met in the Sherrer's living room had grown, according to the quarterly conference notes, to 37.
- On January 17, 1944 Myrtle Grove Methodist Church had its first Official Board Meeting.
- During the early months of 1944, there were no building materials to be had. The building materials were "frozen". The government would not give them a permit to build a church. C.H. Sherrer asked if a permit could be given if the materials were donated. The building inspector's office said that was impossible because there were no building materials to be donated. Nevertheless, this small committee built a little chapel from donated materials. Owsley Lumber Co. told C.H. Sherrer to be at their fence when the day closed and all the lumber that was thrown over the fence, because it had knotholes in it, could be theirs. So, at the close of the day, the three members of the building committee and Willis Tyrrell were at the fence to inspect the rejects.
- Using materials that were donated and working part-time, they had their small chapel ready in April for the Easter Sunday Worship Service.
- In November of 1944 six tiny Sunday School classes were added in an east wing.
- The Sherrers and the Adkinsons deeded some more land to the church in February of 1945. They realized that more room would be needed for Myrtle Grove Methodist Church.
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