From Helen Emery’s, The Puritan Village Evolves: “By the 1840s residents of the south part of the town felt a need for a church in their part of town, and seventeen individuals organized a Wesleyan Methodist Society on February 15, 1846. For the first few years services were held in the South schoolhouse, (Lokerville School) There was some thought of building a church on Main Street in Cochituate Village, but the majority of members (dominated surely by Loker’s) favored a site near the schoolhouse in Lokerville ... (There was) controversy which arose in 1850 about which way this church would face. The first building,...blew down in a strong wind. When rebuilt, the structure’s front was turned toward Cochituate Village to secure the attendance of a member who had objected to the orientation of the first building.”