TEBBETTS - More than a century of community history is crumbling, and a group of about 25 concerned community members met Saturday in the Tebbetts Community Hall to help repair it.
The Oakley Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historically black church located at County Roads 485 and 486, is in dire need of repair. Though congregations only stopped meeting regularly two years ago, the church served the community since its charter in 1878.
Efforts to rebuild the church were charged when two of the few remaining members, Doris Handy of Fulton and Nina Woodson-Falls of Independence, spoke to discuss ways to return attention to the church.
"Me and Ms. Handy talk a few times a year, and we used to always have basket dinners," Woodson-Falls said. "I thought to revise the dinners, but Ms. Handy said, "I think people have forgotten about Tebbetts. They don't care about the old churches that made Missouri what it is.'"
Investigating the site while planning such a revival revealed the church needed a different kind of attention, however. Woodson-Falls' husband discovered a large crack in the wall, which Handy said had not been there just a few months before.
The crack was just one of the building's problems. Local architect George Hord said years of shingles piled atop one another were deteriorating, putting excess weight on the roof and posing a risk of leaks. The concrete foundation was also cracked in places and nonexistent in others - the back end of the building was supported on stones.
Additionally, window frames need replacing, gravestones in the church's historic cemetery require repair and the cistern needs to be cleared of brush and filled.
"The first thing we need to get is the roof, but the foundation has got to be stabilized and jacked up," Hord said.
He noted they hoped to find shingles and concrete at wholesale prices and have most of the labor donated, but when adding additional smaller repairs "it wouldn't be too surprising if we got up to $10,000."
It appears Hord was right about the labor. Woodson-Falls called Tebbetts a community "that always helped each other," and had more than two dozen community members in the Community Hall for a potluck lunch and to sign up for committees to find supplies, organize work days and plan for the building's future.
Several students from Columbia and Westminster colleges have pre-emptively volunteered to work, and even other churches in the area have a vested interest in restoring the church for continued use as a religious institution or cultural museum.
"It was so meaningful to the Tebbetts community, and we wanted to support the church," said Pati Tynes, pastor of the United Methodist churches in Tebbetts, Mokane and Steedman. "Churches working together is an awesome experience and it's something Christians should do today. If we don't stand up for our history, the world's not going to."
Oakley Chapel was remodeled in 1954 and replaced with a new building in 1962. Both projects were overseen by the church's first female pastor and Woodson-Falls' grandmother, Margorie L. Casson.
Handy and others helped get the building listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 2008, securing its place among just 12 other places in Callaway County.
Woodson-Falls said she was just as dedicated to preserving the church's history. Baptized there as a child, she said the church was significant to the entire Tebbetts community as people would mingle and attend services and functions at all of the area churches.
"Tebbetts is rich with a lot of history along the river," she said. "It's not Jefferson City, but it's as important. Many people have kept the same way of life here; it's a cultural Mecca of rich history here in Missouri. If we can have $300,000 houses on the ridge, we can preserve history."
The next strategic planning meeting for church renovations is 3 p.m. Sept. 22 in the Community Hall.