St. Paul's Methodist Protestant Church (Culbertson, Nebraska)

St. Paul's Methodist Protestant Church
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Nearest city	Culbertson, Nebraska
Coordinates	40°6′52″N 100°48′55″W / 40.11444°N 100.81528°W / 40.11444; -100.81528
Area	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built	1900
Built by	James L. Hoyt
NRHP reference No.	79001446[1]
Added to NRHP	January 25, 1979

St. Paul's Methodist Protestant Church, also known as Stone Church, is a church building located south of Culbertson, Nebraska, United States, on Nebraska Highway 17. It was built in 1900 and was added to the National Register in 1979.^[1]

In 1885, a sod church was built to accommodate the growing population of the area along Driftwood Creek.^[2][3] Methodist minister M.H. Noe led the first worship services in the sod building the same year.^[2] The current building stands across the road from the original sod church.^[2]

Building the Stone Church which succeeded the sod church was a community endeavor, with most of the labor donated by parishioners.^[2] Limestone was quarried from a local rock formation and hauled by wagon to the construction site, roughly 5 miles (8.0 km) away.^[2][3][4] Church members cut, hewed, and loaded the limestone by hand under the supervision of Jim Flynn and local stonemason James Lewellyn Hoyt.^[2][3][4] Hoyt's sons, who at ages eight and ten were too small to load the stones, were tasked with placing dynamite charges to blast the limestone apart in the quarry.^[2] The acre of land upon which the church was built was donated by Rebecca Hart.^[2][3]

The church's construction is impressive considering that, at the time of its construction, the majority of its parishioners still lived in unimproved sod houses and dugouts.^[2] Construction on the church was finished in 1900 and dedicated as the St. Paul Methodist Protestant Church led by Reverend J.E. Darby.^[3]

Four years later, the congregation of St. Paul Methodist Protestant Church merged with the local group of United Brethren in Christ in 1904.^[3] In 1907, the church was formally reorganized as United Brethren.^[3] Regular church services continued in the building until 1951.^[2][3]

The Stone Church was a cornerstone of the Driftwood Community until the 1950s.^[2][3] The church was the home of the local Sunday school, an orchestra, and various local events.^[2] In the early twentieth century, the Stone Church was also the polling place of the community.^[2]

At a celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the church's construction, a committee was organized to restore the building.^[2] Over the course of seventy-five years, the structure had been damaged in several ways.^[2] Since the restoration process began, the roof has been replaced, the walls have been reinforced, and faulty electrical wiring has been removed.^[2] The interior of the building has been restored to a similar state to its original construction.^[2]

The Stone Church has neither plumbing nor electricity due to the era of its construction and its remote location.^[2] The building is not in regular use, but is maintained by the Stone Church Community Association as a memorial to the settlers who built it.^[3] Annual gatherings are held at the Stone Church to commemorate and celebrate the church and its construction.^[2]

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