OLD MCKENDREE HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED FROM 'DEPRESSION, DESOLATION AND DECAY,' TO SHRINE

Reginald Gerhardt of Old Appleton nails metal lath between logs at Old McKendree, while Ed Hahn of Jackson, removed old mortar during the 1977 restoration of the historic structure.

Contractor J.W. Gerhardt (in doorway) led the 1977 restoration of Old McKendree. Termite infestation of the 178-year-old cypress logs made the job tougher than anticipated.

When the Rev. William Stewart waded through the brush and burs in the fall of 1925 and saw the dilapidated wooden structure, a new chapter in local history, Methodism and heritage tourism was about to begin.

Built in 1819 of hand-hewn poplar logs, Old McKendree Chapel is and was the oldest Methodist church building standing west of the Mississippi. Once the hub of the circuit-riding Methodist ministers of the early 19th century, the old structure was on its final legs. It had not been used for weekly services since 1890 and the occasional conferences and special meetings at the old church had ground to a halt by the 1920s.

"I shall never forget the day in the fall of 1925, shortly after coming to Jackson, that I decided to see the venerable forerunner of my new church," Stewart recalled in his 1964 autobiography, Mindful of Man. "It wasn't easy. I left my car on the road and gingerly picked my way through briery underbrush, low-hanging trees and fences for what seemed an interminable length of time. Then I saw it."

Writing nearly 40 years later, the emotion of the discovery was still evident as the retired minister recalled the event.

"The scene, although strangely stirring, was one of depression, desolation and decay. The log church, built in 1819, was in a state of utter disrepair. The roof no longer made a pretense of keeping out the rain and small birds and mammals had made their homes in it. The chinks had fallen from between the logs and all the windows were broken. Weeds were almost as high as the building itself."

Stewart found the abandonment and likely eventual collapse of this historic shrine as unacceptable. He began a move to restore the old gem -- such an important icon in linking area history, architecture, spiritual life and commercial future.

"It appalled me to see a house of worship, especially one of such proud antiquity, stand forgotten and lost from the minds of men," Stewart recalled. "On this very ground, in 1810, a great camp meeting had been held by a circuit rider from the Cape Girardeau Circuit. These meetings were held annually until the year the church was built.

"I went back home that evening determined that I would do what I could to restore this relic of our faith so that some day people could point to it proudly."

In his Old McKendree Chapel, Dr. Frank C. Tucker credited Stewart as the standard-bearer in the Old McKendree restoration. "To him, more than to any other person, the chapel as it stands today is due."

A key event took place June 3, 1929. Bishop Waldorf of he M.E. Church gave the sermon at the first Annual Conference to convene at the chapel, which had already received some minor repair work. "This service game added impulse to the program of restoring the chapel," Tucker added.

Slowed by the onset of the Depression, the restored chapel was finally dedicated Oct. 15, 1933, with Bishop W.F. McMurry speaking.

"The interior has remained practically the same as when erected and today it is an near its original condition as it is humanly possible to make it, said a souvenir pamphlet, apparently given out at the chapel in the 1940s or earlier. "Architect A.F. Lindsay, Cape Girardeau, was secured by the committee to direct the work, and too much credit cannot be given him for the excellent service rendered."

A steel canopy was placed above the important structure in 1958, helping protect the structure from further wear and tear of weather. In 1966 it was named to the list of Methodism's 12 shrines, as part of American Methodism's bicentennial that year. a Floyd A. Johnson painting of early parishioners finishing the construction of the chapel was part of a bicentennial exhibition in Baltimore that year.

The one-room horizontal, chinked log structure is about 35 by 30, sitting on large granite blocks. The poplar log, in many cases, are over 30 inches in width and spans the length of the building. The roof was re-shingled with cypress shingles in 1933. The four windows are six over six paned, double hung with slip sills. Some original glass amazingly remains. The plank floor beams are the original and are "somewhat rough in appearance," according to the nomination for for the National Register of Historic Places -- which the chapel made in 1987. some of the pews are believed to be original as well.

From the time of Rev. Stewart's drive to restore the old structure, debate roared as to whether the clapboard siding -- apparently added in mid-19th century -- should be removed to expose the horizontal log walls.

The decision was finally made in the 1970s -- following historic restoration examples in other communities -- to expose the logs. The siding was removed by J.W. Gerhardt in June, 1977. The results were horrifying. The weatherboarding was removed "only to reveal that most of the original logs were infested with termites and were rotten," reported Mary L. Spell in the Southeast Missourian. Gerhardt found a Banbridge Road farmer who offered solid old cypress logs from a recently-demolished 19th century house. Gerhardt theorized that the logs -- amazingly similar in appearance to the McKendree logs -- may have come from the same grove of trees.

The overhaul was a major one. Many of the original logs were replaced, while new caulking was replaced and concrete buttresses were added to reinforce the walls.

Gerhardt claimed that "the building will be as sound and rigid as it was when the firs settlers built the church."

Eight years later remains of the old William Williams cabin was reconstructed near the chapel. The poplar logs of the cabin were hand-hewn around 1804, before becoming the home of the William Williams family, which donated the land for the chapel.

A few years after the metal canopy was put over the chapel, a curator's house (or "parsonage," as it was initially called) was constructed just down the hill from the chapel. Today David and Theresa Hopkins live there and see to the needs of the aging structures in their care.

The chapel is open to the public during daylight hours and various civic and church groups meet on the hallowed grounds.

"In time, all the things necessary to put Old McKendree in first-class shape were done," Stewart reflected, looking back on what might have been the outstanding achievement of his nearly six decades of ministry. "Old McKendree has recovered her self-respect and has now been designated as one of the official national shrines of Methodism."

Thanks to Stewart's hike through the brambles and the determination of him and countless other individuals, the old structure has indeed regained its self-respect. It has also given Cape County a tangible link to its past and its future.