Annual chicken dinner culminates Bethel Wildwood Church’s historic anniversary

 (Here's my complete West Newsmagazine version of a terrific event on this Saturday, Sept. 27!)

Bethel Wildwood Church's chicken dinner. (Photos courtesy of Chylene Daub)

Everyone is welcome to visit a Wildwood landmark on Saturday, Sept. 27 from 2 pm-7 pm to cap off the site’s official 150^th anniversary!

Bethel Wildwood Church, aka Bethel United Methodist Church, will host its 99^th annual chicken dinner/craft boutique event inside its Fellowship Hall at 17500 Manchester Road! Begun in 1924, the event has maintained its annual popularity while closing down for the two recent Covid years.

“We call ourselves The Church of the Open Door because we really like having visitors here,” said Chylene Daub, who writes the church newsletter and is a loyal church member.  

The special meal, which includes green beans, coleslaw, apple sauce, and desserts, is free for children 5 and under, $10 for those 6-10 and $17 for others.

Daub added that the meal will also include its original German sweet potato salad which came from a recipe long kept a secret by one little old lady.

“She had the recipe in her purse and wouldn’t let anyone know what the ingredients were even though you have to have lots of people helping boil, peel, and cook the potatoes. But we have the recipe today, anyway!”

What a contrast to the initial meal event which Daub noted as picnic style. There was no kitchen nor large eating area inside the early church, so women cooked everything at home, brought it to the church, and served it on tables outside. But they decorated with Japanese lanterns, which will also be featured this year.

Another highlight of the event is the craft boutique. 

Daub noted that for many years, there has been a little parsonage on the property called ‘Our Craft Cottage.’ This year, they changed the name of that craft cottage to ‘The 1875 General Store.’

Church member ladies make a lot of handmade items for home décor plus fall, Halloween, and Christmas items.

“One of their other projects is knit prayer shawls that are really pretty. They’re free and used for someone in the hospital; especially for children. Every shawl they pray over and it’s like a little love gift for people who are ill.”

In order to make the event work, people come the day before, set everything up while others get there around 4 in the morning to peel potatoes and cook that Saturday.

They’ll also have clean up from Boy Scout troop 456, which the church has sponsored for over 70 years.

“It helps to get everybody involved. You’ve got people who are serving the chicken, others are greeting people, ones who are passing out desserts, and others keeping the kitchen clean as they go. It’s a busy day, but it’s really a lot of fun!”

Daub also noted that Pastor Kevn Dekker, who has only been there for a year, will also be on hand. She said he’s a talented preacher and musician who plays piano and guitar.

She also wanted to make sure everyone knew about Nina Lantz and Carla DeSalme, the two co-chairs who have put on this event for several years.

"They call it their favorite day of the year!"                     

The church’s 150^th anniversary was celebrated on June 1^st. 

“A lot came in costumes depicting 1875, and we had a band there, Padre and the Pulse. We also had a farm animal petting zoo with a couple Shetland ponies. We had Hank, the cutest goat you ever saw, baby rabbits and chickens…and the kids absolutely loved that! A magician who put on a little show, and we had hayride tours through our cemetery, telling about some of its history. Originally, there were two acres of land donated by the St. Louis Marble Company, then we added onto that. It's one of the oldest cemeteries in St. Louis County.”

The sanctuary was dedicated in April 1875, but the original church was started around 1858 as one of the oldest Methodist churches west of the Mississippi.

“At that time, traveling preachers would go from church to church in a circuit. There was no preacher in the church every Sunday, but they would have some Sunday school time and have revivals that would last a couple days. They would set up tents. Some people would come in covered wagons. They called it a camp meeting of Southern Methodist preachers, and they gathered at Camp Hollow near Wildhorse Creek and Hardt Roads.”

Daub added that was the time when a group of people decided they wanted to form Bethel. So, the next year, they built a little stone church. It’s still standing on Wild Horse Creek Road as kind of a little forgotten building, but the Pastor, Wesley Browning, actually had slaves help build that church. That was in 1858—the same year Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas had their debates in Illinois.

When the Civil War broke out, it was a really difficult time because Missouri remained loyal to the Union, but when it became a state in 1821, slavery was allowed through The Missouri Compromise. You could have slaves, but very few people in the area did because its really big German population didn’t believe in having slaves.

There are slaves buried alongside a good deal of teenage Civil War soldiers in their cemetery that is actually older than the church itself. They were able to keep the church together even though some people were suspicious of Southern Methodist preachers because they figured they were very loyal to the south. They stayed at that little Rock Bethel Church. 

“A couple years later, they built a log cabin for the church, and it doesn’t stand anymore. But in 1873, they decided they wanted to build a permanent sanctuary. They acquired property right on Manchester Road. When I wrote an article, I wrote ‘History has marched right past our front door’ because Manchester Road was the first state road for Missouri because it was designated as the official road from St. Louis to Jefferson City. You had stagecoaches that went right by our church. Later on, it was part of Route 66.”

The church itself has long been referred to as ‘The little white church in Wildwood.’ But it received the name ‘Bethel’ because it means ‘The House of God’ in Hebrew.

Finally, Daub added that, while in the area, more history can be found just a few blocks away at Big Chief Roadhouse, one of the original motels and restaurants on Route 66.

And while in the area, history and entertainment can be found at Stovall’s Grove Rockhorse Saloon, a famous dance hall just west on Manchester Road. They have a statue of a horse, rear end up on its hind legs in front of the place.

“What’s interesting about it is, during the Civil War, generals from both sides of the war at one time or another camped there by its natural spring and a grove of trees that provided shade. The (Confederate) Quantrill’s Raiders (including Jesse James and brother Frank) were also known to have camped there. Also, Brenda Lee sang there one time with the Missouri River Boys who still play there on Saturday nights.”