West Independence United Methodist Church

A brief history of West Independence UMC.

The West Independence Church first settled in 1858 at the Union Cemetery one mile west of its current location. The church stood just a little west of the center gates along U.S. 224. At this time, it was part of the United Brethren in Christ denomination. In 1874, a new church was build in West Independence. It had a tall steeple, all brick design, with two front doors. Sunday school classes were divided as to sex until around 1928, a German speaking class was maintained until around 1919.

In 1946, the United Brethren in Christ denomination and the Evangelical denomination joined forces, which made for a new name of Evangelical United Brethren Church. We remained so-called E.U.B. Church until 1967. Around this time it was noticed that the old brick building was going on 85 years old and starting to show its age. There were cracks in the ceiling which were blamed on the heavy truck traffic on U.S. 224. It was hard to heat, and of course there was no air conditioning. So in 1959 and 1960; a new church building was built. That building is still being used to this day.

In 1967 The Evangelical United Brethren denomination joined with the Methodist church and West Independence United Methodist Church was born. Due to the need for more space; a new addition was added on to the Sanctuary's west wall adding a Pastor's office and four new classrooms. In the last 3 years West Independence took on another building project with building the Family Life Center which included a full court basketball court, a warming kitchen, and 4 classrooms.