The Palestine Church was built under the pastorate of Rev. CRONEN in 1889 along what would later become the Ayr Line Road. The church was a member of the Iowa Conference of United Brethren Church and was a charge on the Blockton circuit.

Prominent in establishing the work were the Sam and Absolom BAIRD and Sam MAIN families.

Ministers were Reverends JONES, NINE, LOVELACE, FLEMING, WILSON, TETWILER, MITCHELL, Miss WALDEM, HULBERT, SCHULL and L. R. SMITH. The pastor from Blockton's United Brethren Church also filled the pulpit.

Some of the members of the congregation included the HULLS, the CLAYBURGS, the SCOTTS, the MALOYS, the RUSH family, the SAVILLES, the JACOBS, three BAIRD families, three MAIN families, the McCURDYS, T. J. FORBES, Ben HOOPS, the NIXONS, and the KNIGHTS.

Two United Brethren ministers, grandsons of Rev. JONES, came out of this congregation. These were Claude MAIN, pastor at Kansas City, Kansas, and Earl MAIN, late pastor at Waterloo, Iow. Presiding elders were Dr. George MILLER, W. F. GRONK and E. W. CURTIS.

Apparently after serving the neighborhood for approximately thirty years, the church was closed when there was a falling out among members of the congregation.

The last report on the Blockton circuit was at the 1917 conference. All services appear to have been discontinued in 1918 and the building was sold. The lumber from the building was used in the construction of the barn on the Vance GEIGER farm across the road west of the original site of the church.

SOURCES: Redding, Iowa: The First Hundred Years: 1882-1982 p. 31
"Faith Comes to the Prairie" RInggold County Historical Society. 1972.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, 2008; updated September of 2011