Missouri River Valley Steam Engine Association

Photos submitted by Matt Coley.

Matt is the Chairman of this special project. He would like to thank all of the members who have helped with this project, thus far (still lots of work to do!!!). They include, but not limited to: Theron Marcellus, Neil Coley, John and Lance Young, Richard Sorrels, Roy Koirtyohann and Dennis Ficken.

Bethlehem Baptist Church was the fourth Baptist Church to be organized in Boone County, Missouri. It was located at the intersection of Trimble Rd. and Callahan Creek Rd approximately 5 miles south of Harrisburg. Church records indicate the date of organization as October 27, 1835.

The names of 26 people are listed as Charter members. At it's first business meeting, held that same day, Rev. Fielding Wilhite was chosen as Moderator and Josiah Short as Clerk. Rev. Wilhite was also selected to be the Pastor. It was also on this same day the name of Bethlehem Baptist Church was chosen.

A three day meeting followed during which there were 43 additions, so that when the Ordinance of Baptism was administered, the young Church had a membership of 69 members. There is no record of where these meetings were held and the minutes contain no record of any sort of building until about 1837 when reference is made to a "half a meeting house with seats".

It is well established that Bethlehem has had four different houses of worship. First, a log "meeting house" was erected and used jointly by Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians. This log building burned shortly after it's completion. Next a brick building was used jointly with the Methodists until about 1858 when the Methodists sold their interest in the property and built elsewhere. The brick building, being too small, was replaced by a frame structure dedicated in 1861.

This building was replaced in 1889 with the present building. During the troubled period of the Civil War, Bethlehem Baptist Church maintained services with reasonable regularity, but were suspended for a brief period near the end of the War. About 1876 a group of Bethlehem members living up north were granted dismissal for the purpose of organizing a new church which was named Perche Baptist Church.

Then about 1887 those members living in the proximity of Harrisburg withdrew to organize the Harrisburg Baptist Church. In 1889 another group of members living to the east withdrew to organize Hinton Baptist Church. This church a few miles north of Columbia, Missouri.

Bethlehem was a Charter member of Mt. Zion Baptist Association which was organized Oct. 5, 1880. Bethlehem has "set apart" several men to the Gospel Ministry. Through these men and through the labors of those who have gone out into the "fields", as well as through the contributions of those who have stayed at home, it has had a tremendous part in carrying out the "Great Commission".

A couple notable student pastors of Bethlehem went on into service in Foreign Missions. Rev. "Bill" Wakefield and Rev. Dale Lindstrom, and their families. Rev. Wakefield served in several areas around the world including the Phillipines and Hong Kong. He served in many different capacities eventually Supervising on an International level. Rev. Lindstrom was appointed by the Foreign Mission Board and served in Venezuela as Agriculture Missionary. He now serves in his home state of Colorado working with Hispanics and other minorities.

From the middle 50's on, most of Bethlehem's Pastor's were students from the University of Missouri. This proved most successful with rare exceptions. The Baptist Ministerial students needed a place to preach to hone their skills before seminary and the additional income. This arrangement benefited both the church and the student preacher.

Bethlehem became known as a "proving ground" for new ministers. As happened with so many small country churches the membership began to decline in the 1970's due in most part by many of the farms in the area being bought up by people or corporations out of the area. Many of those farm houses were left empty or torn down. Also, the younger generation was moving into larger towns for employment or the larger churches.

Bethlehem Baptist church continued limited services for a great length of time until the building began to need some serious repairs and the upkeep cost became prohibitive. On Friday, November 12, 1999, Bethlehem Baptist Church met in a Special called business meeting. Four of it's remaining five members attended along with the Mt. Zion Director of Missions, Rev. David Barker assisting. The four members unanimously voted to Officially disband and close the churches doors.

After some obligatory disbursements, the remaining assets and property was given to Bethlehem Cemetery Association. The Cemetery adjoins the church property. The Cemetery Association later donated the building and the remaining furnishings to the Missouri River Valley Steam Engine Association of Boonville, Missouri.

MRVSEA has disassembled the building and moved it to the site at their show grounds to be rebuilt and used for special occasions such as weddings, etc. Their Show Grounds is located at the Wooldridge exit of I-70. The final sections of the building was taken down and transported to the MRVSEA site Feb. 5th, 2005.

During the dismantling of the building it was discovered many of the timbers and roofing sheathing boards were from the 1861 building. Possibly even those 4 big wooden roof trusses.

Early in the lifetime of the Bethlehem Church, it suffered a terrible tragedy. This happened on Saturday October 5, 1850. There was this store located in Columbia at the corner of Eighth Street and Broadway. Goods had been shipped by boat to Providence and then hauled into Columbia by wagons. Among the goods were 2 wooden kegs of gunpowder which had been placed temporarily by a counter near the front door. One keg had the top partly crushed.

On that day Josiah M. Short, 25 years old, a member of Bethlehem Baptist Church and a son of a Charter member came into the store smoking a cigar and since the clerks were all busy, he took a seat on top of the counter just over those kegs of gunpowder.

With his fingers he flicked the ashes from his cigar and a spark fell into that keg with the partially open lid. An awful explosion resulted, the building demolished, goods scattered in all directions, window glass broken all over town and a number of people injured, some seriously.

Mr. Short was instantly killed and a monument near the northwest corner of the church building and just at the edge of Cemetery was erected marking his final resting place.

It has taken many volunteers of time, money and expertise to accomplish what we've done thus far. To reconstruct the church will also take a lot of work. Our goal is to restore the church to it's original state and help preserve part of history that's been donated to our club.