Thursday, October 11, 2018

Hurricane Church and Camp Meeting


In 1906, R.M. Franks was asked to write a history of the Hurricane Camp Meeting and so he wrote from memory some of the facts of the history of this place in 1890.[1] 

The church actually dates from 1843, when Richard Minner gave land for the church. A number of years later, Robert H. Haynes deeded four acres to the Methodist church for a cemetery.  In 1890 Brother S.K. Breeding, pastor of Hurricane Church organized a camp meeting with the following men on the camp meeting committee: Joseph W. Guess, S.F. Crider, T.A. Minner, John B. Perry, James T. Terry, Dr. I.H. Clement, who were Methodists, and R.M. Franks, who was minister of a Baptist church.





At that time the camp meeting was in the Marion Circuit, which included the following churches: Marion, Hills Chapel, Siloam and Hurricane. The salary for preachers was $325 and, by 1907, it had increased to $600.[2]

The committee adopted two rules:  There would be no stands on the grounds except a feed stable and a hotel. The second rule stated ladies and gentlemen were not to sit together during services.[3]

A large building was erected as a place of worship. While the current building is not the original, it remains the place of  stirring sermons. People still come from far and wide to hear these sermons each June.




[1] "A Bit of History," Crittenden Record-Press, Fri., 14 December 1906, p. 6.
[2] "Eighteenth Anniversary," Crittenden Record-Press, Thurs., 12 September 1907, p. 1
[3] "A Bit of History," Crittenden Record-Press, Fri., 14 December 1906, p. 6.

Published 11 October 2018, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

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