Elm Springs Baptist Church

​(Printed in THE MILLER COUNTY AUTOGRAM-SENTINEL in the column, 'WINDOW TO THE PAST', Aug. 11, 2011)

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A few years ago I made mention of Elm Springs Baptist Church in a newspaper article and after publication, I had a letter from Herbert Kidwell of Eldon, MO. He wrote me a wonderful letter telling about his knowledge of the old church.

His father, Elmer Kidwell (1879-1962), bought the land where the old church was located in 1908. In 1980, Gail Kidwell, a cousin to Herbert, owned the same land. There was a log building on an acre of land when Elmer Kidwell owned the property. Later, the old log building was moved and used for a barn and storage shed.

Mr. Kidwell said that when it was being used as a church, the log building was very primitive with only dirt floors.......the old church was used for a barn for quite sometime but eventually it ‘rotted down’ and is no longer in existence.

I can find no history of Elm Springs Baptist Church except it was in existence in 1913 per “Schultz’s History of Miller County”. It was mentioned, along with other Baptist Churches that existed in 1913 in Miller County....there was no history given, only a brief notice. I suspect there may have been an earlier church, so it may have been revived about 1913 and probably was still in existence as late as 1931.

Elm Springs Baptist Church was located in what is known today as “Bear Creek Country” in Glaize township, south of the Osage River. Actually it was built a short distance from Little Bear Creek, which flowed northward until it reached the Osage. The county road, which passes nearby today, is called Oak Bend Drive.

Elm Springs Church has not existed for over 80 years as far as I can determine. Among the earliest Baptist churches in Miller County were two that I have some information about... They both have a rich history.

One was the United Baptist Church of Christ in Richwoods township, northeast of Iberia. It was organized in the early 1840s. The other was Old Gilgal Baptist Church, organized about the same time near Little Gravois Creek in the Old Bagnell area. I would venture a guess that early settlers in the area of Elm Springs Baptist Church may have once attended Old Gilgal on the Gravois because it would have been located just a short distance north and across the Osage River.

While looking at a 1936 map of Miller County, I located a school called Elm Springs School in almost the same location as the old church. I would presume the area was probably called Elm Springs for quite sometime and when a school was organized, the name “Elm Springs” was given to it.

From the description Herbert Kidwell gave me of the church all those years ago, I doubt the old church building was used as a school. It was not suitable or usable for either a school or a church by 1936.