AREA HISTORY:  Methodist Church of Lewisberry, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Abby Bowman

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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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METHODIST CHURCH, Page 635

Methodist Church. – The Rev. Freeborn Garrettson, a distinguished Methodist 
divine, introduced the doctrines of that denomination in the Redland Valley in 
1781, the same year that he organized a congregation in York.  The followers of 
Methodism here were only occasionally visited by clergymen of the York Circuit 
until 1794, when the Lewisberry congregation formed a part of the Carlisle 
Circuit, when they were frequently visited by the Rev. Nelson Reed, presiding 
elder of the Carlisle Conference, and Rev. Philip Cox.  Religious services at 
first were held in the houses of members, and for a long time in a stone house 
of Hugh Foster.  This old relic, which has stood for a century, is located on 
the corner of Front Street and the Harrisburg road.  December 28, 1806, Eli 
Lewis, the founder of the village, donated to the congregation a lot on which to 
build a church.  The following church officers constituted the committee who 
received the grant: Philip Frankelberger, Hugh Foster, Moses Pike, David Pike, 
Andrew Holopeter, Frederick Holopeter, Peter Stickel, John Brinton and Thomas 
Brinton.  There was no church built, however, until 1811, when a stone structure 
was erected, which was used until 1856.  The minister in charge was Rev. James 
Reid, who afterward became somewhat noted in the history of Methodism.  Benjamin 
Siddon was the mason.

August 23, 1856, Rev. Archibald Marlott, president of Irving Female College, at 
Mechanicsburg, laid the corner-stone of the present brick church.  November 30, 
of the same year, Rev. Dr. Charles Callin, president of Dickison College, 
preached the dedicatory sermon.  The cost of this building was $2,031.31.

In 1813 the remains of R. Foster and John Pike, two prominent citizens of the 
village were the first to be interred in the adjoining cemetery.

Rev. W. W. Carhart ministered to the wants of this congregation for the past 
year.  The membership is about eighty.