Church History

 

In frontier Tennessee, religion played an important role. As settlers came into the new state and established farms, businesses, towns, came into the new state and established farms, businesses, towns, and communities, churches were a priority. During the early 1800s, a Christian awakening swept through the upland South. Camp meetings, lasting for days, occurred in many places including the village of Hillsboro, or Leiper's Fork, in western Williamson County. In 1831, a Union Church was constructed and jointly owned by the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and later the Church of Christ denominations who shared the building on a rotating basis.

 

This arrangement continued until the various denominations grew and were able to support and construct their own place of worship. This community was a busy place around 1900. The Middle Tennessee Railroad was completed in 1910 and the station was located on Leiper's Creek near the Southall lumber mill. The Bank of Leiper's Fork was chartered in 1911. By 1913 the Leiper's Fork Telephone exchange was organized. The area depended largely on agriculture, and farm families were the foundations of the congregations.

 

After officially forming the Hillsboro Methodist Church in 1908, several families, led by faith and with confidence that they could establish a place of worship through which they could serve God and their community, joined together to purchase this property and build this sanctuary in 1910-11.

 

The brick building with a bell tower, steeply pitched gables and gothic windows is much the same as it was nearly 100 years ago. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Leiper's Fork Historic District, the church has been carefully maintained by the generations who worship here. Electricity was added in 1942, and the oak pews date from about the same time. In 1962, an annex was added with a kitchen, restrooms, and space for Sunday School classes. The fellowship hall was begun in 1988, and meals featuring the food of some famous local cooks are enjoyed on a monthly basis.

 

As the church grows, the Fellowship Hall space is used for teaching, meetings, youth groups, and other gatherings. There is a collection of crosses in the hall that were either made by members and friends or brought from their various travels in other states and countries. The exquisite memorial stained glass windows were installed in the sanctuary in the 1990s, and a tapestry of the Lord's Supper was brought from Florence, Italy. In 2007, a sound system and new lighting fixtures were installed to make it easier for all to enjoy the services.

 

While the building is indeed historic and beautiful, it is the service, ministries, and missions of a congregation guided by faith in God that make this place significant to Leiper's Fork, Williamson County, and the global community. Today, the members and friends look ahead with confidence, as did their predecessors a century ago, to the future of Hillsboro United Methodist Church because we are "A Fellowship Forgiven by the Grace of God and Servants of Hope and Promise."

 

There is a "New Wind Arising" and it is bringing a freshness of the transformed and abundant life found in Christ to all that share with us.

 

Please come and worship with us as a people forgiven by the grace of God and servants of God's love.