The following was written and revised by church historians, and is the most current available for our 100 year celebration.
In the first membership record of the United Methodist Church is a single line of history, “The class in King City was first organized in 1879.” Louis Bowman, who has lived in King City all of his life and has a good memory for stories of the past, tells us that this class first met in the old Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In the early days of Methodism it was customary for a few persons of Methodist persuasion to gather together with a circuit rider and form a class, having layman appointed as class leaders. Most often, as in King City, the class grew into a church.
Mr Bowman does not know how long the Methodists worshiped in the Presbyterian Church. He does recall that the fifth Sunday was their day. The Methodist class moved from the Presbyterian Church to Turner Hall and then moved to their own building. The church was on the present site and burned in the big fire of 1883.
The first pastor, Rev. S.N. Warner, was appointed in 1880 and continued until 1882. He was followed by E. Edmond 1882-84, Thomas Wolcott 1884-85, W.A. Wilson 1885-86, J.A. Showalter 1886-87, W.R. Enyeart 1887-89.
A Quarterly Conference was recorded to have been held in King City on July 2, 1887 and the record shows the circuit was made up of King City, Star Chapel and Flag Springs. Members of the Quarterly Conference present were: J.J. Bentley, Presiding Elder; W.R. Enyeart, Pastor; John Sherman, G.J. Taylor, Isaac Pool, A.M. Leonard, J. Turner.
The value of the property was listed as follows: King City $2200, Star Chapel $1400, Flag Springs $400, and the value of the parsonage $800.
This record also shows the “Total for preacher’s salary including rental value of the parsonage, $725, apportioned as follows: King City $225, Star Chapel $257, Flag Springs $113, and rent $100.
The circuit has changed through the years. The minutes from the Conference of 1892 no longer recorded Flag Springs. In 1893, Ford City was added to the circuit but is not shown to be part of the circuit the following year.
It would take long hours of research to find the facts of history between that time and now. We know that the present church was built in 1914 and given the name “Hammer Memorial” after the Hammer family, who were large contributors to the building fund. It was built at a cost of $11,000, $4800 of which was pledged at dedication. Dedication Day was a great event for the congregation with three services and a basket dinner in celebration of the event. Rev. William Austin Yetter (1912-16) was pastor at that time.
In 1944 the building was completely refinished and redecorated under the leadership of Rufus H. Limpp, chairman of the building committee. The project was completed at a cost of $5500. On February 27, 1944, the structure was rededicated by Bishop J.C. Broomfield of St Louis, Missouri, Dr. Glenn A. Baldwin, Maryville, Missouri, District Superintendent and Rev. Albert Blood, Pastor. Trustees at the time were: Rufus Limpp, Jr., T.H. McElroy, Clarence Heintz, Neil Adams, Kirk Collow, Rodney Narans and Tracy Stahlman. Mrs. Nellie McKenzie, now deceased, held the distinction of attending church services in all three structures in King City.
During the years of Rev. Ned Hill’s pastorate (1945-50), the Methodist Churches in Ford City and Winslow communities, which shared a minister with King City, united with the King City Congregation.
The present parsonage, located at 309 Queen Street, King City, was built during the ministry of Rev. Richard Blount (1958-60). It was authorized in the Quarterly Conference, August 6, 1958.
Members of the building committee were; Hugh Holand, chairman, Carl Cogdill and Lee Murphy. Members of the Finance Committee were: Dan McCrea, Chas Kennedy, Emmitt Bryson, Wilford Carlson, Ruth Gassner, Lucille Colville, Bert Kerns, Ed Woodrel, Lester Dick, and Bob Clark.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s the church building was again remodeled inside, including a great deal of construction to make the building structurally sound.
Star Chapel became a sister church in 1967, while Rev. E.I. Webber was pastor and this was to remain until July of 2012, when the decision was made to separate and both churches received their own ministers.
Heritage Sunday was celebrated in May of 1981 with members recalling the past one hundred years of the Church by wearing vintage clothing and participating in special services throughout the day. Reverend Lee Whiteside, then District Superintendent, gave the morning sermon with assistance from Reverend John Gregory (1980-84), minister at that time. Several former Pastors were invited to join the congregation for the special observance.
In 2001, Rev. Martin Barker was asked to serve as an interim pastor at Hammer Memorial and Star Chapel Churches, and continued as the full-time pastor until his death in 2008. In the fall of 2004, at the direction of the Lord, the parishioners of Hammer Memorial took on an aggressive remodeling and expansion of the existing facility. This project, which included approximately 2600 square feet of new construction, was completed at a cost of just over $500,000. The pledges and donations literally poured in and the project was completed (and paid for) in just over six months. In the sanctuary, the project undertook the leveling of the floor and total redecorating. This included installation of new pews, carpeting and significant expansion of the seating capacity to handle the growing attendance. A new pastor’s office was also built on the main floor as well as a handicap accessible restroom. On the lower level, the kitchen and dining hall were completely redecorated including all new cabinets and appliances. New handicap accessible restrooms and additional Sunday School classrooms completed the project.