Last December 21st turned out to be a remarkable day for photographing old rural churches. For starters, I finally rediscovered the abandoned Martindale Friends Church I first spotted back in 2022. Minutes later, a surprise detour led me to another hidden gem as the weathered cupola of the old Huntsville Methodist Church emerged from behind the trees. Here’s what I’ve uncovered about the forgotten place of worship.
The Randolph County community of Huntsville was platted by Miles and William Hunt in 1834. The town originally consisted of twenty-eight lots, but additions by Stephen Keener and Royal Hunt more than doubled the community’s footprint in 1848 and 18501. A schoolhouse was eventually established.
William Hunt was a Methodist preacher who settled in West River Township sixteen years before he helped lay out the town that took his name. It’s unclear when the first Methodist meetinghouse was built there, but it could have been as early as 1819. The church -Randolph County’s first Methodist congregation- was certainly established by 18272. Its original home stood southwest of town next to Huntsville Cemetery, which remains3.
Three buildings at two different sites served as the home for Huntsville Methodist Church until 1945, when the extant structure was dedicated4. Unfortunately, the building was shuttered in 2003 after Huntsville’s congregation merged with the nearby Methodist Church in Modoc5. Huntsville’s 4,600-square-foot building was purchased by a private party the following year6. A modern home sits nearby, while the seemingly-empty chapel remains as one of the few landmarks to dot the tiny town.
Sources Cited
1 Tucker, E. (1882). History of Randolph County, Indiana. book. Chicago, IL; A.L. Kingman.
2 Hinshaw, G. (2021, July 29). Pioneer Methodism in Randolph County, Indiana (1815-1850).
3 (See footnote 2).
4 Huntsville Church Plans Dedication (1945, April 21). The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 3.
5 (See footnote 2).
6 Parcel 68-14-28-400-019.000-011 (2025). Office of the Assessor. Randolph County [Winchester]. Web. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
Was there a bigger stronghold for Methodism than small towns in the midwest?
I can’t think of one, though Randolph County specifically is best-known as a big Quaker enclave.