Point of Interest: Old McKendree Chapel

Old McKendree Chapel sits among the trees, the two-century-old structure protected by a metal shelter. The chapel is the oldest Protestant house of worship still standing west of the Mississippi River.

Aaron Eisenhauer

This story has been updated to state the correct phone number to call to reserve the chapel.

The oldest Protestant house of worship west of the Mississippi River that is still standing is tucked off of the Interstate 55 Business Loop and Old Orchard Road Drive just outside of Jackson. What was once a “chapel in the woods” is now, as McKendree Memorial Chapel Board of Directors president Mary Harriet Talbut says, a chapel surrounded by a subdivision on one side and an interstate and connecting roads on another. And yet, as McKendree Memorial Chapel Board of Directors secretary Betty Henry points out, the feeling of peace still pervades the 15 acres where the earliest Methodists in Southeast Missouri worshiped.

McKendree Memorial Chapel, widely known as Old McKendree Chapel, was built in 1819 on land donated by William and Elizabeth Williams. For nearly 10 years prior, the couple hosted camp meetings on their property, outdoor revivals at which circuit riders came to preach while hundreds of people from miles away traveled to grow in their faith, camp and socialize. At the meetings, baptisms, weddings and communion services took place; the land was an ideal meeting point because of the spring on the grounds that provided a water source.

Betty Henry stands in Old McKendree Chapel outside of Jackson. Ten generations of her family trace their roots to the chapel.

Aaron Eisenhauer

In 1818, circuit rider Bishop William McKendree, the first native-born bishop of the United Methodist Church, preached at the site; according to the book “Old McKendree Chapel,” by Frank C. Tucker, it is possible that during this time, he encouraged the people to build a chapel.

Whether he encouraged them or not, they did, and named the structure after him. It became the founding point of Methodism in Southeast Missouri: Many Methodist churches in the region trace their roots to the chapel, including Centenary United Methodist Church and Grace United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau, Zion United Methodist Church in Gordonville, and New McKendree United Methodist Church in Jackson.

“They experienced something here back a few hundred years ago, but you can still experience it. It’s the same,” says Ola Nordstrom, member of the McKendree Chapel Association. “There’s a peace here, there’s a presence of God here.”

The congregation flourished for the next 26 years until 1845, when disagreement about the issue of owning and utilizing the labor of people who were enslaved divided the congregation: Although Preacher Nelson Henry persuaded many of the members to stay with the Methodist Episcopal Church, North, which was opposed to slavery, founding member Isaiah Poe and several other members left the congregation to start two Methodist Episcopal Church, South congregations in support of slavery in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

One of the older graves in the Old McKendree Chapel Cemetery in Jackson belongs to William Hooser, who died on Sept. 10, 1821. The cemetery is situated across the road from the chapel.

Aaron Eisenhauer

After the split, descendants of the founding members continued to keep the congregation at Old McKendree Chapel alive, including having a flourishing Sunday school from 1851 to 1857, 1866 to 1869, and 1881 to 1883, and utilizing the chapel as a public school building, until it closed for regular services around 1890 and fell into disrepair.

In 1927, Reverend William Stewart from New McKendree in Jackson spent six years raising $2,500 to restore what a story in The Missourian called the “cradle of Methodism in Missouri.” The renovations included a new roof, flooring and windows and a reconstructed fireplace using the original stones and were completed in 1933. In 1958, a protective steel structure was added around the chapel. In 1977, the weatherboarding from the 1850s was removed so the original wood, hewn from poplar trees on the property, was visible.

Since then, the site has been used for weddings and other celebrations, an annual Easter sunrise service, and an annual service on the fourth Sunday of September. The chapel is a national Methodist shrine and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Talbut remembers what a local preacher said about the historic site.

McKendree Memorial Chapel Board of Directors secretary Betty Henry stands among the headstones at Old McKendree Chapel Cemetery in Jackson. Henry is a descendant of some of the chapel's founders, who are buried at the cemetery.

Aaron Eisenhauer

“He said … you can go to some of the historic Methodist sites in different towns, and it’s just a plaque on the wall, because what was there has been torn down or destroyed,” she says. “But you come here, it’s here. We still have it. And it’s been preserved. You don’t have to imagine what it looked like; it’s not a plaque on the wall. It’s the real thing.”

Henry is a seventh-generation descendant of four of the charter members; with the recent birth of her great-grandchildren, there are now 10 generations of descendants in her family that trace their roots to the chapel. Because of this, she says the worship site “means so much.” She works to preserve old McKendree Chapel so she can pass on the “feeling of importance” her ancestors had for the chapel to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In addition, she hopes many people, no matter their religion or denomination, will visit the site to “commune with God.”

“When you come to a place where you can feel the presence of God, respect that place, return to that place as often as you need to. Sometimes, it gives that extra little boost to face the next day,” Henry says. “We’d like to share that with anyone that wants to come.”

Want to go?

Old McKendree Chapel at 4080 Bainbridge Rd. in Jackson is open each day from dawn to dusk.

The chapel will join 38 churches throughout Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Perry and Ste. Genevieve Counties to comprise the Christmas Country Church Tour Dec. 15 and 16. Visit the chapel and the other churches to see them decorated for Christmas from 2 to 9 p.m. both days.

For more information or to reserve the chapel grounds, call (573) 352-1621.