New Albany United Methodist Church

New Albany’s First United Methodist Church is Gothic Revival, constructed in 1928, according to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.  The first Methodist Church building was built in 1886, on a lot across the street, where the associate pastor’s parsonage is sited today (FUMC, New Albany, church history).  Membership continued to grow, and in 1925 when it reached 500, the congregation purchased the lot and began planning for the new building.  The first services were held in 1927.  The hardships of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression found the church deeply in debt, but they were able to pay it by 1938.  Building additions occurred throughout the ensuing years, and in 1996,

…the church entered on a massive campaign to build a multi-purpose building and a two-level atrium building to connect the new facilities with the existing buildings.

The Gothic Revival churches built for Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist congregations in the 1920s tended to have a greater degree of formality to their plans than in the previous three decades. (Pace, S. (2007).  Historic churches of Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi)