John Wesley Methodist Church
This church, founded about 1865, is the first African-American church in Lamar and was long known as Lamar Colored Methodist Episcopal Church. It was organized by Rev. John Boston, a former slave who was its first minister, serving here 1865-67. Boston, who also represented Darlington Co. in the S.C. House 1868-70 and 1872-74, is buried in the church cemetery. The old Boston Township was named for him.
The church held its first services in a brush arbor, but completed a frame sanctuary here about 1866. That church burned in 1906 and was replaced later that year by the present frame sanctuary, a Gothic Revival building. In 1916 trustees donated a half-acree for the Lamar Colored School, later Spaulding High School. Electricity replaced gas lights in 1935 and the exterior was covered in brick veneer in the 1950s.
Where it stands. 304 E. Main St., Lamar, Lamar