County of church: Callaway County
Location of church: 201 E. Walnut St., Auxvasse
Phone: 573.386.2361
I can find nothing on this church specifically, as an active church. Pastor, service times, etc...I could, however, find some historic information on the church.
"The center steeple church type shares many characteristics with the gable-end building.
Generally constructed in frame with wood siding, these church types have a roughly
rectangular footprint and a front gable roof. The defining feature of this property type,
however, is the projecting center tower. The tower generally acts as the foyer/entrance to
the church, and as the belfry and steeple.
"The survey identified five examples of the center steeple church type in rural Callaway
County, as follows:
• Auxvasse Christian Church, 200 E. Walnut, Auxvasse
"All five examples retain the characteristic projecting center tower, though each has seen
some degree of alteration since construction. The most intact example is the Hickory
Grove Christian Church, constructed in 1904 and dedicated in 1905 (see Figure 5).
Similar in form to earlier extant examples of the property type, Hickory Grove is also the
most decorative example displaying Gothic arch windows, cross gable entrance pavilions,
and chamfered corners accented by scrollwork brackets. The front of the church has been
clad in vinyl siding, though the clapboard on the sides remains exposed. The sides also
show decorative elements around the base and the building’s foundation piers are hidden
behind wood panels carved to look like stone blocks." ~ Missouri Department of Natural Resources
In Callaway County, for example, the majority of settlers came from Kentucky,
Tennessee, Virginia and southern Pennsylvania. It was in this region of the southeast that
pivotal events of the Second Great Awakening occurred. Revivals and camp meetings
such as those held at Cane Ridge (1801) in Bourbon County, Kentucky and the Red River
meeting house (1800) on Kentucky’s Gasper River brought thousands into the Methodist
and Baptist fold and spurred the development of several new denominations including the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Cumberland Presbyterians." ~ Rural Churches of Callaway County, DNR