This restored schoolhouse served as a place for worship and class meetings on the Grand Prairie circuit of the Methodist Protestant denomination in Jasper County beginning in September 1876. The school was donated to the Jasper County Historical Society and moved to the Fairgrounds in 1977. Visitors may drive by the building at any time, and the interior is open during fair days (consult www.jchs.blogspot.com for times).
Rev. Helenor Alter Davisson, a circuit-riding preacher of the Methodist Protestant Church in the 1840s to 1860s, almost certainly did not preach in this building. It was probably built about the time of her death in 1876, not far from the house where she died. Her numerous relatives in Union Township probably used the building both as school and church until they erected a house of worship also called "Rosebud." Rev. Davisson was the first woman known to have been elected to Deacon’s Orders in any branch of The United Methodist Church in America (1866). This historic frame building is one of a cluster of five locations in Jasper County associated with Rev. Davisson and the Methodist Protestants. In 2014, the cluster was designated as "United Methodist Historic Site No. 487" by the General Commission on Archives and History.
GPS reading: 40 56 25.83, -087 11 07.53.