he first Liberty Hill Church was started in 1844 when John Rice gave a plot of ground located two miles east of Morristown on what is now Liberty Hill Road. The first services were held in 1846.
The record of the building of the old church was kept by Milton Shields, in it being registered the names of the people who gave money, materials and labor. Somewhere, down through the years, that record was lost and it is only by piecing together bits remembered by our older citizens and a line or two here and there in diaries, newspapers and old records that we piece together facts concerning the founding and building of Liberty Hill Church.
We assume that Milton Shields was one of the main leaders in the movement to establish our church due to his affluence and prominence in the community. He was the father of Dr. D. E. Shields who practiced medicine for more than half a century in Morristown and Hamblen County. Milton Shields came from Greene County and put up a paper mill and furnace here in this neighborhood. This we know for a fact: that one day Mr. Shields called his men working in the paper mill together and said, "Today we will shut down the mill and go with our friends to the place we have selected and start work on our church house." So with others in the community they put up the four walls of Liberty Hill. The columns that supported the interior and ceiling were all dressed by hand.
We have a record taken from a diary at the Woman's Club House Library in Morristown written by Hal Noe's grandmother, that quarterly meetings were held in January, 1859, and then another in 1863. Dr. R. N. Price in his history of "Holston Methodism" tells us, "The first Quarterly Conference for the Morristown Circuit for the year 1866-67 was held at Liberty Hill, with William Robeson as presiding elder and R. M. Hickey, preacher in charge." Again he says, "Morristown and Liberty Hill Station was erected in 1867 and R. M. Hickey appointed to it."
Five Methodist ministers lie near these sacred walls to await that grand Judgment Day: Rev. Rufus Hickey, Rev. D. B. Carter, Rev. James Thompson, Rev. James M. Chrismond, and Dr. Charles Carroll. Down through the years their words resound, calling all Christians to continue the work of the Lord and to carry on in the simple yet glorious fashion in which our ancestors one century ago did gather here and with love and faith in their hearts did toil with their hands to build this simple church of God.
Some of the charter members at Liberty Hill were such names as: Rice, Purkey, Shields, Fulton, Hobbs, Thompson, Stubblefield, Garretson, Robertson, Wright, Morelock, Livingston, Long, Carriger, Portrum, Speck and many others. John B. Jackson and Henry Counts, for whom two streets in Morristown are named, lie here among our honored dead in the church yard. They were probably also charter members.
We should mention here that the First Methodist Church in Morristown was built after our building here at Liberty Hill and until it was built, the people in town worshipped here at Liberty Hill. The First Church was in the process of being built when the Civil War began. During the war, First Church’s half completed structure was used to stable horses for the Army, while our own house of worship was used as a hospital for the wounded soldiers. One of the pews that was in the church during the war shows such evidence as where a minnie ball was shot through it. It has been restored and is today in the Ladies’ Classroom just behind our sanctuary.
After the war the church in Morristown was completed and our building here was restored. Regular services resumed. It was remodeled in 1927. The 100th anniversary was observed June 30, 1946.
The Liberty Hill structure served long and well, but as time usually does, it took its toll on the building. With a look at the future, we consented to relocate. On May 16, 1965, we had a groundbreaking service. The church debt was retired in full on November 4, 1974.
The newly purchased Liberty Hill parsonage is located today in the Hampton East-Third Phase subdivision.
And so our church rose here so that children may learn to love God, grow in grace and favor and where the grace of God may be manifest, making our homes Christ-like, that its people may rise to serve.
