Feature 266: 400 West Maple Avenue (in 2011)

Classification: Contributing.
Historic Name: Methodist-Episcopal Church, South (formerly Maple Avenue Methodist-Episcopal Church and First United Methodist Church).
Architectural Style: Late Gothic Revival.
Construction Date: 1859/late 1800s remodel/1940s addition/1950s addition.
Period 5 of Harry S Truman's Life: Serving as Elder Statesman, 1953-1971.
Tax Identification: 26-230-06-10.
Legal Description: Old Town, block 6, lot 34.
Description: Contributing two-story brick church; three-story brick addition at the rear (north wall); irregular in shape; cross-gabled roof; square tower with paired lancet arched openings in tower centered over main entrance on south side; brick exterior with slightly projecting representational flying buttresses on east and west sides; windows have lancet arches with tracery and cut stone lintels and sills; windows on rear addition are paired, square-headed, double-hung sash with cut stone lintels and sills; slightly recessed main entrance facing West Maple Avenue. Located on a slightly elevated lot at the northwest corner of West Maple Avenue and North Spring Street and south of alley that bisects the block; lawn and foundation shrubbery surrounds church on south, east, and west sides; parking in rear (north).
• Alterations: Remodeled in late 1800s; tower not original (around 1900, a hexagonal steeple with six lancet openings rose above a square tower with a balustrade over main church entrance); rear addition in the 1950s or 1960s.
History/Significance: The origins of the Methodist-Episcopal Church, South, dates back to the mid-1830s when J.P. Hulse organized the congregation. Mary Wallace and Reuben Wallace, the grandfather of Bess Wallace Truman, were among the charter members of the church. The congregation began constructing the first church building and completed it in 1840 at a cost of around $1,000. The two-story building measured 50 x 70 feet. Its lower story contained a minister's office, classroom, and lecture room. With increasing church membership, the congregation outgrew this building, and in 1859, constructed a new brick church - the present building at West Maple and North Spring.
During the Civil War, northern and southern sympathizers each tried to take possession of the church building. There was no single pastor during most of the war. After the war, the northern faction took control of the property, excluding all others including those who had contributed to the building's construction, until a court ruling apparently resolved that those who had contributed to the church's construction - predominantly Southern sympathizers - should have possession of the property. In 1880, the membership numbered around 112. Early ministers since the Civil War have included: M.M. Pugh (1865-1866); S.S. Bryant (1867-1868); G.H. Williamson (1869); W.F. Camp (1870); M.J. Law (1873); C.H. Briggs (1874-1875); W.B. McFarland (1876-1877); R.A. Hollaway (1878-1879); and J. Spencer (1889-1881). Other ministers have been: Owen M. Rickman (around 1906); Emerson E. Swanson (around 1908); Frank M. Burton (around 1911); Charles N. Scrivener (around 1912); and L.F. Shook (around 1916). The parsonage stood to the north of the church for many years at 202 North Spring Street [an address that no longer exists, but would be within the historic district], probably until the church was expanded to the north in the 1950s or 1960s.