Building Timeline

Posted on by Dennis Price
  • Early 1870s:  Small group of Methodists began holding  worship services in the Rockbridge  School House
  • 1887: An abandoned Methodist Episcopal Church known as Akers Chapel which stood halfway between Rockbridge and Carrollton was given to Rockbridge by the  Illinois Conference. The building was wrecked and the material hauled to the present location by the members and work  began on the new building. This building served as the church home from 1887 to 1926.  (a window from the 1887 building hangs in the sanctuary today)
  • 1925:  Late in 1925,  a group of dedicated members met to  discuss the possibility of  a new building. The building committee (P.C. Holnback, Reid Tendick, D.G. Scandrett, Mrs. Laura Tunnell, T.M. Meek, Roy Farrelly, H.S. Tendick, and S. H. Frazier) along with the local contractor,  C.H. Crane, planned the new building to be built on the same site.
  • 1926: The last service in the old building was held on May 30, 1926. The following day, demolition of the old building  began.
  • 1927:  The new church (present church) was dedicated–debt free– on May 22, 1927. Bishop Edwin Holt Hughes of the Illinois Area preached the dedication service.  [see post below which includes excerpts from the Illinois Conference Journals about Rockbridge Church and this building process!]