{"id":107,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:48:35","latitude":38.309393900000003441164153628051280975341796875,"longitude":-85.89534190000000535292201675474643707275390625,"title":"Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/c43eec68d51388ed6b8ee67440d03508.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":6,"creator":["Carl Creason","Hannah O'Daniel","Katherine Gann","Daniel Michael","Leanna Smith"],"description":"Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church traces its roots to the first Methodist congregation founded in New Albany.  In October 1816, several settlers began meeting for prayers in a cake shop owned by Harriet Reynolds on the east side of Pearl Street.  Reynolds, a devout woman  recently arrived from New Jersey, sold “ginger cake and spruce beer” from a room in the front of the building and lived in the rear.  The group gathered each Wednesday evening to pray, sing hymns, and celebrate their faith.  Obadiah Childs soon organized a Methodist class that attracted additional members.  Upon learning of these developments, circuit-riding preacher John Shrader traveled to New Albany to minister to the group.  On June 20, 1817, Shrader held a service for twenty-four believers in the dining room of Hannah Ruff’s tavern.  The group immediately decided to organize a Methodist society and build a church. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe following day, society members began construction of a simple building began at a site on Lafayette Street.  On November 25, 1817, the congregation met in the structure for the first time.  Shrader preached the sermon.  Members unanimously agreed to name the church Wesley Chapel in honor of John Wesley, the co-founder of the Methodist faith.  In 1827, the congregation moved to a new building at the corner of West First and Market streets.  Since riverboat men frequented church at its new location, Wesley Chapel became known as the “old ship.”  The first meeting of the Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church took place at the church in 1832.  Members built the New Albany Methodist Seminary on an adjoining lot in 1835.  It operated until 1843, when debt led to its closing.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nAs Methodism grew rapidly during the 1830s and 1840s, Wesley Chapel spawned two new churches.  Following a revival in 1838 and 1839, a group of members established Centenary Methodist, which became an independent congregation in 1841.  In 1850, more than 200 members left Wesley Chapel to found Robert’s Chapel, now Main Street United Methodist Church.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nIn 1854 Wesley Chapel erected a new building at 202 West Market Street.  It served the congregation for more than a century.  Wesley Chapel became embroiled in the debate over slavery a short while later.  In 1856, the church appointed B. F. Crary as its minister.  Subborn, uncompromising, and outspoken, Crary held strong abolitionist views.  He published scathing letters attacking the Democratic Party for its position on slavery.  Since the shipbuilding industry produced the bulk of New Albany’s wealth and demand for new ships came from the slaveholding south, Crary’s ideas proved unpopular, which to his departure from Wesley Chapel in 1857.  <br />\r\n<br />\r\nWesley Chapel met at 202 West Market Street for the last time on June 7, 1964.  The congregation then relocated to a building at 2212 State Street.  In 2013, the congregation moved to a new building off U.S. Highway 150 in Floyds Knobs.  The church maintains two campuses, with a second location on Grant Line Road.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["New Albany Bicentennial Commission, ed., <em>200 Years of Church Histories: New Albany and Floyd County Indiana</em> (Kearney, NE: Morris Publishing, 2013), 98. <br /><br /><em>New Albany Daily Ledger</em>, Nov. 10, 1856.<br /><br /><em>New Albany Ledger</em>, Aug. 5, 1885; Sept. 17, 1937. <br /><br /><em>New Albany</em> <em>Public Press</em>, June 26, 1917.<br /><br />F. C. Holliday, <em>Indiana Methodism: Being an Account of the Introduction, Progress, and Present Position of Methodism in the State</em> (Cincinnati, OH: Hitchcock and Walden, 1873), 178. <br /><br /><em>The Beginnings of Methodism, and a History of Wesley Chapel, New Albany, Indiana</em> (N.p.: n.p., 1908)."],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/c43eec68d51388ed6b8ee67440d03508.jpg":{"id":1232,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Wesley Chapel United Methodist","description":"In 2013, the congregation moved into this building on U.S. Highway 150.<br />\r\nImage courtesy of Daniel Vivian.  | Daniel Vivian | 2015 | Daniel Vivian","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/c43eec68d51388ed6b8ee67440d03508.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/914c409ed1a97a08f1d7e6d73fed032d.jpg":{"id":1234,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Grant Line Campus","description":"Built in 1962 for Grant Line United Methodist Church, this building now serves as the Grant Line Road campus of Wesley Chapel.<br />\r\nImage courtesy of Daniel Vivian. | Daniel Vivian | 2015 | Daniel Vivian ","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/914c409ed1a97a08f1d7e6d73fed032d.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/cf4d8f02b3d23a62b77ace4de2d29e27.jpg":{"id":1256,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Methodist Churches, 1915","description":"Postcard showing the Methodist churches of New Albany.  Wesley Chapel appears at bottom left.<br />\r\nImage courtesy of the New Albany-Floyd County Library Digital Collections  | New Albany-Floyd County Public Library | 1915","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/cf4d8f02b3d23a62b77ace4de2d29e27.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/45954a0697d2363193e458e894fa7d4a.jpg":{"id":1257,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Pastor Crary","description":"Benjamin F. Crary served as minister of Wesley Chapel in 1856-57. An outspoken abolitionist, his views alienated many members of the congregation.<br />\r\nImage courtesy of New Albany-Floyd County Public Library Digital Collections | New Albany-Floyd County Public Library | Date Unknown","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/45954a0697d2363193e458e894fa7d4a.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/21b57c6b419441c82c26bc559ca62a22.jpg":{"id":1258,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"1937 Flood","description":"Wesley Chapel suffered severe flooding during the 1937 flood. Note the &quot;no services&quot; notice on the sign to the right of the door.<br />\r\nImage courtesy of New Albany-Floyd County Public Library Digital Collections | New Albany-Floyd County Public Library Digital Collections | 1937","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/21b57c6b419441c82c26bc559ca62a22.jpg"}}}