Ebenezer Camp Ground

Ebenezer, a small community in Greene County, Missouri, is located about ten miles north of Springfield a mile or two east of Highway 13. Originally settled about 1831, it is one of the oldest communities in Greene County and at one time was perhaps the second-most prominent town in the county after Springfield. In the 1850s, Ebenezer had two stores, several other shops, and "a considerable village population," according to Holcombe's History of Greene County.
The Ebenezer area was largely settled by Methodists, and the M. E. Church of Ebenezer was one of the first in the county, if not the entire state. From Ebenezer's very earliest days, the camp grounds of the Methodist Church there was a great gathering place, not only for religious functions but sometimes for other purposes as well. Religious camp meetings were regularly held in August, and in August of 1901, a 70th anniversary celebration of the Ebenezer Methodist Church was held on the camp grounds with a big crowd in attendance. "The people about Ebenezer would not know how to get along without their August camp meeting," observed a Springfield newspaper at the time. "It is an event to look forward to like Christmas."
The newspaper allowed that it was debatable whether the Ebenezer church was the "very cradle of Methodism in Missouri" as some sources claimed, but it was certain that the church's grounds had been used as a religious gathering place for at least 65 years. District conference records of the Methodist Church dated back to 1834, and the very earliest records mentioned Ebenezer. "Annual conferences used to be held there and famous bishops have proclaimed the zealous and lofty faith of John Wesley on the old Ebenezer camp ground."
The Methodist circuit that included Ebenezer extended north to Bolivar in the early days and south to include northeastern Stone County. Circuit riders preached at least once a day and sometimes twice. Often they would preach in private houses or in a grove of trees, as church buildings were few and far between. Preachers were poorly compensated. If a circuit rider made $150 a year, he was considered well maintained. Of course, the preachers were often the recipients of gifts from their flock ranging from knit socks to dried apples to help in their support.