HISTORY OF STONE CORRAL COMMUNITY CHURCH
The Stone Corral Community Church had its beginning going back to the gold rush days in California. In fact, the church had two beginnings that would eventually bring together the influence of two different denominations - the Methodist and the Church of the Brethren. The Methodist faction of the church began in the old Douglass School on the John W. Kirk ranch. In 1865, John Kirk, along with William Clark Sinclair and his wife Anna, started a Sunday school in the Douglass School building for the families in the area. The Sinclairs were Methodists, and their son, James Monroe Sinclair, would later become an important minister of Stone Corral Community Church. When the old Douglass School building burned down, a new Douglass School building was built near Shelton Road and Waverly, and the Methodist Church in Linden sponsored the Sunday school in the new school building calling it the Mt. Zion Sunday school.
About 1885 the Church of the Brethren (also known as German Baptist Brethren) organized their church in a barn on Shelton Road and called it the Stone Corral Church. The name “Stone Corral” came from the Elliot McComb ranch which had a huge stone corral surrounding the farm. The Brethren used lay ministers, and Jacob Shank became one of their leading preachers.
Jacob Shank and William Clark Sinclair became friends, and the decision was made for the two congregations to build a church building together and have joint services. In 1891 the Methodists from the Mt. Zion Methodist Sunday school and the Church of the Brethren built the first church house for the Stone Corral Community Church. The church was located on Shelton Road and, what is now, Highway 26. On one Sunday either a Methodist minister from Linden or a Methodist layman would preach, and the next Sunday a lay-preacher of the Church of the Brethren would preach.
The first church house burned down in 1913, forcing the congregation to meet in the Chaparral School house which was across the road from the present location of the church. The church met in the school house for five years because they didn’t had enough money to rebuild, even though Pastor Monroe Sinclair had bought an acre of land where the present church is located. The Nazarene Church in Milton said they would build a church building if the name would be changed to “The Stone Corral Nazarene Church.” The congregation agreed as long as the congregation could continue has they had been with Pastor Sinclair as their pastor. It was agreed, and the present sanctuary was built in 1919.
By 1926 there was trouble between the Nazarenes and Pastor Sinclair, so Pastor Sinclair persuaded the Methodist Church of Linden to buy the building from the Nazarenes. They did, and the name of the church returned to “Stone Corral Community Church.” In 1930 the Stone Corral congregation incorporated so they could buy the building from the Methodists. That year, 1930, the church celebrated by having its first Home Coming.
Stone Corral Community Church was a beacon for Christ in the community for many years, but in the late nineteen hundreds, new influences from newcomers in the community caused the old members to leave the church. In 1998 the pastor died and the church closed its doors. In 1999, several of the old members came back and reopened the church with a new zeal. Our services are Bible-centered; our fellowship is inclusive; we are mission minded; we have a praying ministry. Our services are traditional with the singing of the old hymns. A new modern educational building has been constructed, and our children’s ministries include Children’s Church during the worship hour. Everyone is welcome.
