Latimer Memorial Methodist Church
Est. in 1876, the Belton Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was chartered with 44 members, including the Harris, Smith, McGee, and Pinson families. Rev. John Attaway (1835-1903) was its first pastor while serving the Sandy Springs Circuit. Congregants met at Belton Presbyterian Chrch until a wooden church was built on this site, donated by Ira C. Williams in 1881. In 1911, Belton M.E. was renamed Latimer Memorial Methodist.
Congregants changed the church’s name to honor longtime member and elder Asbury Churchwell Latimer (1851-1908), a U.S. Senator and Congressman. Legislators from Washington, D.C., were among hundreds who attended his funeral at Belton M.E. Several additions have been made to the original church, including the steeple, high peak roof, chancel, and two towers (one extant). The church was brick-veneered in 1941-1942.
Where it stands. 200 River St., Belton, Belton