Warren County Iowa Genealogical Society

Lacona Church of the Nazarene

Lacona Church of the Nazarene (previously Lacona Bible Baptist Church), 275 E. Main St., Lacona, IA 50139, built in 1916.

History of the Lacona Nazarene Church, copied from The History of Warren County, Iowa, compiled by the Warren County Genealogical Society, Curtis Media Corp., Dallas, Texas, 1987, p. 371.

George RIDDLE moved to Lacona area from Columbia, Iowa about 1908. He felt the need for a Nazarene church in the area. He and others held Holiness Camp Meetings on Milt MITCHELL’S farm, now the farm of Lloyd WILLIAMS. This group of people held services in the McKinley Hall prior to the building of the new church in 1916. This building was located north of the Dairy Sweet and alley in Lacona and was later torn down. The church building cost $4,700.00. The parsonage was bought in 1917 for $1,800.00.

There were forty plus charter members including: Milt and wife, Adelia MITCHELL, Miles and wife, Icel MITCHELL MILLER, George and Bell RIDDLE and their children, Clarence, Burley, Geneva, Orville and Jeanetta; Winnie MOSHER, Charles and Liza HADLEY, Lon and Sade SNELL, John and Becky RIGGS and their children, Ada and Lester; Bud WILLIS and wife and their children, Ada, Will, and Worth; Bruce and Blanche NEER and their children, Glen, Gladys, and Fern; Oral McKINNEY, Fern SNUGGS, Asberry GRAVES and wife, Mary, and their children, Murl and Clayton; Mead GILLASPY.

Only two are known to be alive today: Icel MILLER age 94 years and Fern NEER BOYLAN age 83. Mark CAMPPBELL filled in as pastor until he receive a call to his first pastorate at Bloomfield, IA. Lacona Nazarene Church’s first full time pastor was Rev. Charles HENDERSON. The present pastor [1987] is Rev. Leon SEAGER and his wife, Ruth. They have been Nazarene pastors for around forty years. They live in Des Moines and come to Lacona on weekends where they stay in the parsonage.