Ida Methodist Church - Ida, LA
N 33° 00.263 W 093° 53.493
15S E 416717 N 3652126
A sign placed by the Red River Crossroads Historical Association stands in front of the Ida Methodist Church at 6874 Cedar Ln, providing a few sound bytes about its establishment and early appearance.
Waymark Code: WM1BMRY
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 03/02/2025
Views: 0
The sign reads:
The Ida Methodist Church was organized in 1903. The present building dates to 1904, erected on land donated by W.B. Means and J.T. Means. Jim Shaver was the architect and the builder. The original building had a bell tower and steeple and the first pews were blocks of wood turned on end with a 1 by 12 board across them. A large wood-burning stove was located in the center aisle with coal oil lamps providing the lighting.
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A few blocks away in front of the old museum is a sign with some town history. Time and the elements have made it difficult to read, but it references the church and shares a glimpse of it when the bell tower was still around. A photo is in the gallery, and an alternate view can be found at the HMDB.
The church was previously affiliated with the United Methodist Church -- one can see the old sign by the highway here, and while you won't find them through the UMC's church locator, they still have some archived data. Those "5/27/2023" dates for the ministers is a hint as to when they moved on. There's no obvious affiliation at this point, but they are still active on Facebook (see below), where the name of their group was changed from "United Methodist Church of Ida, Louisiana" to "Methodist Church of Ida, Louisiana" on June 1, 2023. Interestingly, they once had another Facebook page, entitled "Ida United Methodist Church", and it was active from 2013 to 2016, with a photo of the sanctuary as the initial post.