SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — A small church in a tiny village about 1 mile from Route 8 has had a rich and faithful history since its official incorporation in 1847, and that history was largely revealed by its split three months ago with the global United Methodist Church.

A group of church members who met Wednesday morning at Branchton Community Church for Bible study and maybe a few doughnuts said the liberal pastors sent by the denomination recently to preach at the rural church went against the largely conservative beliefs of the membership.

“We were down to 10 members,” said Cindy Marshall, church treasurer.

So the dedicated flock at the former Branchton United Methodist Church decided to save their beloved and historical place of worship and break away from the liberal ideology of the denomination.

In July, the church officially became Branchton Community Church, with the Rev. Richard Marshall, who is Cindy’s husband, as pastor.

The requirements to break from the United Methodist church necessitated a deep dive into church records, which revealed many interesting facts.

Lucille Puryear, who has attended the church her entire life, has organized the historical information and pictures into neat three-ring binders, envelopes or folders, which are stored in fireproof lockboxes in the church.

She pointed out that the original congregation of the church, which was then the Branchton Methodist Episcopal Church, met in the one-room Branchton School that once sat behind the current church building.

A sepia photo of students in front of the school in or around 1913 includes her uncle, William Sankey, who was the sole teacher in the school that went up to grade 8.

“Look, one boy doesn’t even have shoes on,” Puryear said.

She said handwritten documents show that in 1905, the congregation hired I.J. Hogg, carpenter, to build the church. According to the document, construction was to begin on May 1, 1905, and be completed by Sept. 1, 1905.

The cost for the construction was $250, “plus $125 more when the building is ready for plaster.”

“This amused me,” Puryear said of the next sentence, which required that “the church is to be left swept broom clean when finished.”

The charter of incorporation was signed on Jan. 12, 1906, by Amos Hall, B.S. Rimer, Albert Wigton, H.H. Wadsworth and S.B. Cross.

Cindy Marshall recalled an area of the Slippery Rock Creek where kids could swim many years ago was called “Wadsworth,” and assumes the area was named for her church’s ancestor.

Puryear also pointed out that over the years, many items were donated in memory of loved ones who attended the church.

The sanctuary’s curved pews were brought in from another church by train and lugged to the building via horses, Puryear said.

The church boasts unique antique folding doors and a bell in the steeple that is still rung by hand each Sunday.

One event that piqued Puryear’s interest during her historical research was the paving of the muddy Branchton Road in front of the church.

Then called Branchton-Slippery Rock Road, the hardtop road surface was celebrated by 500 residents on the day it was dedicated in 1939.

The church’s Ladies Aid Society, which was initiated in 1910 to raise money for the church, saw an opportunity and advertised a chicken dinner on the day of the road dedication.

Puryear said the ladies “emptied their kitchens,” bringing dishes, silverware, tables, chairs, tablecloths, cooking equipment and other items to prepare the meal … including chickens.

The meal was prepared without the benefit of running water, which wasn’t installed in the church until 1943.

The 60-cent dinners raised $300 for the church, which was a large amount of money in pre-World War II America.

Having been blessed with the windfall, the ladies decided to make the chicken dinner an annual event.

“At that time, Branchton was a thriving little town,” Puryear said. “There was a hotel, glass bottle plant and train depot. People would stop and get off the train and spend the night here, and the church ladies probably thought they could do the chicken dinner and make some money for the church.”

The annual chicken dinners continued for many years before the ladies decided to switch to turkey dinners.

Those much-anticipated feasts continue to this day, and the annual turkey dinner at the church is planned for Saturday, Nov. 4.

The current ladies of the church have continued their predecessors’ determination to provide the most delicious dinner possible, so the entire meal is made from scratch.

“We peel 200 pounds of potatoes for the mashed potatoes,” Cindy Marshall said.

About 24 turkeys will be filled with homemade stuffing and placed into one of more than a dozen electric roasters lined up on a table along one wall, and most of the pies are either made by a church member or donated by a restaurant in Slippery Rock.

“The turkey dinner runs from 3 to 6 p.m., and by 5, we’re usually running out of food,” Puryear said. “Last year, we sold about 400 meals.”

Rev. Marshall, who was ordained a Baptist minister, is retired, but took the job three months ago when the church split from the United Methodist denomination.

He hopes the church will have the financial wherewithal to hire a pastor in the next year or so.

Until then, he said, Branchton Community Church will continue its mission and programs.

“We preach the Word and love the people,” he said.