Methodism played a formative role in the founding of Vicksburg and Warren County.
In 1799, Rev. Tobias Gibson, a circuit rider in the Mississippi Territory established the Hopewell congregation in Warren County. In 1814, Rev. Newitt Vick, a Virginia-born preacher, and Foster Cook erected a log cabin for worship near Vick's plantation Open Woods.
Vick was the first Methodist minister in Warren County, and before his death from Yellow Fever in 1819, he purchased 612 acres of land, which he divided into town lots.
After Vick's death, The Rev. John Lane, who married Vick's daughter, Sarah, became executor of his estate and continued development of the town, naming it after Vick. The Rev. Lane also held church services in his blacksmith shop and home until 1822 when a wooden church was built at Cherry and Grove streets.
In 1837, Catherine and John Wesley Vick deeded to the church a lot at the southwest corner of Crawford and Cherry Streets, and the first of three buildings to house Crawford Streets Methodist Church was built. The first church was given to slaves who had worshipped with their owners. Renamed Wesley Chapel Methodist Episcopal, it remained at Cherry and Grove until a new church was built on First East Street in 1865.
As the town grew, so did the number of Methodist congregations, which today number eleven.
Sponsored by Members and Friends of Methodist Churches in Warren County
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