The Laurel United Methodist Church will celebrate the milestone on Dec. 5 with former pastor Neil Montz featured as a guest speaker for the occasion, special music from local singers, other former pastors attending to say a few words and a fellowship meal.

The church, with R.G. Hawn as pastor, was dedicated on Oct. 30, 1871, and it was then known as the “Dutton Chapel” after founder Solomon Dutton. Ten years later, the church moved from its original location in the country to its current spot on Main Street in Laurel, and in 1917, a major remodeling was undertaken, which included the addition of a basement and new stained glass windows.

Other updates and projects have been completed as needed in the years since, like a fellowship addition in 1995 and the purchase of an annex building that has since become part of the church itself. The UMC also combined with another church in town, the Evangelical United Brethren, in 1975, and for many years, they conducted half of services in one church building and half in the other. Eventually, the EUB building was torn down.

Laura Tribby is a lifelong member of the church, and her parents and grandparents were members too. Although there aren’t many multigenerational families left, the church is particularly special for people like her. Members now come from as far as Baxter, Marshalltown, Gilman and Kellogg.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO — The Laurel United Methodist Church (pictured) will celebrate its 150-year anniversary on Sun., Dec. 5.

“I grew up here, and I remember the church always being full. Sunday morning, it was amazing,” Tribby said. “Then it kind of goes down. Then it comes back up, (and) now we’re kind of building up again.”

Matt Hansen has only been the pastor in Laurel since July, but he’s been grateful to be part of a church with such a rich history.

“It’s intimidating because they have so much tradition that you want to maintain even though you have different ideas, but then it’s also very reassuring that there’s a steadfast attitude — that you can depend on the people in the congregation to maintain, and they want to be there,” Hansen said. “It’s both at the same time.”

Like churches across the country, the Laurel UMC faced difficult decisions on what to do during the COVID-19 pandemic: although the congregation didn’t meet indoors in the sanctuary for almost a year, socially distanced parking lot services were held.

“We struggled, and we were concerned. But we’re still here, and God helped us,” Tribby said. “Now we’re on the other side doing much better again.”

Tribby misses the days when the church was a social hub in Laurel, but she is hopeful that events like community meals will come back on the other end of the pandemic. Hansen is looking to rebuild an area youth group and launch other initiatives like a college age ministry that may be completely new to the church.

“The word that just keeps going through my head is revive, because that’s just kind of where we’re at,” he said. “We have all these things that are happening now that haven’t been able to in the past couple years. It’s like, every night of the week, I’ve got a different meeting or a different event to go to.”

With an eye toward the next 150 years, the Laurel UMC continues to grow and evolve in ways that may feel a bit unfamiliar to lifetime members like Tribby, but they trust Hansen to steer the ship in the right direction.

“I love the contemporary Christian music now, and it’s bringing a few younger people. That’s kind of what I would hope (is) we’ll get more of the young ones to come back again, and when you have things like that, that helps,” Tribby said.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.