Okemos Methodist Church

About 1839 Joseph H. Kilbourne settled in this vicinity on land previously occupied by Chief Okemos and several hundred Indians. He became the first postmaster of Sanford (present-day Okemos) in 1840 and served in the Michigan legislature from 1847 to 1851. Kilbourne and other settlers were influenced by itinerant Methodist preachers George W. Breckenridge and Washington Jackson. Church services were held in settlers’ homes from 1840 until 1846 when the first school opened. In 1870 a modest church was built on Kilbourne farmland. In 1929 the Okemos Methodist Episcopal and Baptist churches federated to form the Okemos Community Church. In 1957 a new sanctuary was built. The old church was razed in 1967 to make room for a new education unit.