Central UMC - South Central

On November 12, 1939, during the unifying conference which created the Methodist Church, two churches merged to form Central Methodist Church, the first united church in the South Georgia Conference. These two churches were First Methodist Episcopal Church and Central Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The first Methodist church organized in Fitzgerald was the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. It was built on two acres purchased from the Drew brothers on September 20, 1888. It was called the Zion Church and was also used as a school. By 1895, the church was situated on West Oconee Street. It was a one-room building with a three-room parsonage next door and a cemetery behind the church. It had twenty-five members and Rev. J. M. Glenn was the pastor. Three lots were purchased on the corner of West Central Avenue and North Lee Street on November 28, 1898. A church was built here in 1899, and the present sanctuary was erected on the same site in 1926. In the fall of 1895, Rev. J. F. McGregor began preaching to Union veterans with the First Methodist Episcopal Church. A Sunday school was later organized in the old Swan schoolhouse and later moved to Drew's corncrib. The church was formally organized with five charter members on December 9, 1895, in the old Michigan tent that was located in Shacktown, the place of worship later being moved to Benson's Real Estate Office. The “Shack Church” was built at 110 North Jackson Street in 1896.
 
The present parsonage on Pryor Street was occupied on March 18, 1957. The building formerly used as a parsonage was razed to make way for a new educational building. This new structure was occupied on November 15, 1959. During the ministry of Rev. Henry Erwin, the renovated sanctuary was consecrated on November 24, 1974, and by May 1976, the renovation of the education building was complete.

201 W. Central Avenue

Fitzgerald GA 31750