As the church bell rang….
Imagine what it must have been like to walk through the door of a newly built church in 1880’s Florida. What a welcome addition it must have been to a town that was once only served by circuit-riding preachers.
Although the First Baptist Church of Citra was the inspiration for writing Historic Florida Churches there is another older church a few blocks away, the Citra First United Methodist Church or Citra Methodist Episcopal Church.
Influenced by popular styles of architecture both Classical and Gothic, American Methodist churches were usually unembellished meetinghouses. This type of building was more suitable to the abilities of the townspeople and the available of lumber and other supplies for the construction of churchs. Lumber from out of town sawmills was often floated down rivers to the construction sites.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places this frame vernacular church building with belfry was built on a corner lot donated by John and Elizabeth Harris in the 1880’s. At the time, Citra was one of the largest producers of citrus in the state and home to the hybridized ‘pineapple orange’. Located along the Ocala Circuit, with stops also at Ocala, Cotton Plant, Orange Springs, Fort McCoy, Spring Hill, Indian Spring, Ocklawaha and Cabbage Hammock, the circuit riding preacher Reverend Julius D. Rogers was instrumental in establishing the Citra congregation and the building of the church.
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