Vergennes United Methodist Church / Vergennes United Methodist Church

In 1843 a group of twelve emigrants from New England and western New York State founded the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Vergennes. Originally part of the circuit running from Grand Rapids to Boston, Michigan, the group first met at the log house of Anthony Yerkes. Later it used the Yerkes and Bailey log schools. Surnames of many of the pioneer parishioners—Fairchild, Kerr, McPherson, Odell, Bieri, Anderson—still graced the church’s rolls in 1986. In the early 1860s the Vergennes Methodist congregation decided to build a permanent place of worship and appointed Charles Collar, A. R. Hoag, and T. Crakes to the building committee. In 1864 Smith Bailey, a prominent local farmer, donated the land for the church. Completed in 1864 the white clapboard structure, with its simple design, reflects the eastern origins of its founders. By 1986 the church had been in continuous service for over a century.