A fanfare of brass will herald Sunday morning worship at Main Street United Methodist Church September 5 as the congregation honors military veterans from WWII. Their special guest speaker is Major General Douglas L. Carver, chief of chaplains for the United States Army.

All veterans, and especially those of the Battle of the Bulge holding their convention in Columbia, are invited. Transportation from the Marriott Hotel will be provided. “We urge people to come by at 10:30 a.m. to hear the music of the Fort Jackson Band Brass Quintet,” says the Rev. Joe Cal Taylor, senior minister at the church. “We are excited to have the veterans here and are honored to pay tribute to them.”

Lunch will be served in McGill Hall following the 11 o’clock service.

Main Street United Methodist, a congregation that has stood for more than 160 years in downtown Columbia, has done a notable job in creating and maintaining archives of its history. Members of the military are prominently featured as they served America over 16 decades.

This church was honored this year with the Herbert Hucks Award given by the South Carolina Conference of the denomination in recognition of outstanding historical preservation and interpretation. Bill Adams chairs the archive committee, and invites all Columbians to come by and see their collection of photographs and documents covering these years.

This Methodist church was started in 1847 in a basement room of the home of Louis Pou on Assembly Street. In a year’s time, a permanent location was sought with purchase of a lot on the corner of Marion and Lumber (later Calhoun) streets.

By 1848, a Sunday School building and a sanctuary stood on this property and were to serve the growing congregation for 50 years.

In October 1898, the church buildings (which by then included a parsonage) were completely destroyed by fire. The rebuilding committee chose to buy property on Main Street, and the present church building was completed and occupied by 1900.

Fire struck again just two decades later in 1921 inflicting heavy damage behind the pulpit and through the roof, but the congregation once again set about rebuilding.

Since that time, Main Street United Methodist Church has served the downtown Columbia area as a house of worship and service. Its physical plant and its mission have expanded to include a Child Development Center, a soup kitchen and sandwich ministry to the homeless, and continuing support of community programs such as Harvest Hope and the Red Cross.

Senior Pastor Rev. Joe Cal Watson is a South Carolina native, born in Ridge Spring and has served various pastorates around this state. His own father, also named Joe Watson, is himself a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, and will be on hand for the festivities. Main Street Methodist is currently pursuing the establishment of a historical marker at the entrance to honor the long history of this church.