Location Information
(for the Main Street [United] Methodist Church)
Name:Main Street [United] Methodist Church
Address:162A Main Street
City/County:Bay St. Louis, Hancock County
Architectural Information
Construction Date:1895
Architectural Styles(s):Gothic Revival
No. of Stories:1
Registration Information
NR District Name:Old Bay St. Louis (2010)
    NR Status:Contributing
    Element No.:452
    MPS:Historic Resources of Bay St. Louis
Context/Comments
This building is very similar to plan #51 on p. 54 of "Church Plans" by Benjamin D. Price and Max Charles Price (1906). The building was damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but survived.

The church Church was originally listed on the National Register in 1980 as element #374 in the Beach Boulevard Historic District. Because that historic district was severely ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the old district was superseded by the Old Bay St. Louis Historic District, which was placed on the National Register on 8 July 2010. The building is now listed as element #452 in the Old Bay St. Louis Historic District.

This building is included in "Historic Churches of Mississippi" (2007) (p. 5), and it is mentioned in "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (p. 334, in the listing for Downtown Bay St. Louis, GC2).
Brief Description
This church building is a 1-story Gothic Revival structure with a multiple gable roof, and a bell tower. The Gothic Revival elements of this building are brackets and vergeboard in both gables, decorative fascia, an open rake, pointed arch art glass windows, buttresses, and a steeply pitched roof. The roof is clad in asphalt shingles and the building is clad in clapboard. A large rear addition was constructed in 1936.
Historic Information
The church was first organized in 1852 but the construction on the current building did not begin until 1895. Construction continued until at least 1897. The land on which the current structure sits was deeded to the church by John Victor Toulme.