The Choate Prairie Baptist Church in Indianola will celebrate its 150th anniversary Sunday, June 1.

Services will begin at 10:30 a.m. followed by a Fellowship Meal.

It is generally accepted that 1875 was the year the church began.

The guiding spirit in the establishment of the church was Eliza Choate, the wife of George Washington Choate.

Four generations of the Choate family were members of the church.

The first meeting place for the church was a log cabin just south of the current Choate Prairie Cemetery.

In the early 1890s the church built a frame structure just west of the present church. In 1911, a small parcel of land ws purchased and a new building was constructed across the road from the current site.

In 1911, the current church site was also the site of the Choate Prairie School, which was annexed with the Indianola School on May 31, 1930.

In 1933, the school building was purchased by the Choate Prairie Baptist Church and remodeled to fit the needs of the congregation.

The original Choate Prairie School building provided the Choate Prairie Baptist Church a house of worship for nearly 80 years until the current church building, closely resembling the appearance and style of the original building was constructed in 2012.

“When we were forced to leave our land, we took the fires with us. We took the embers along. Then when we got to Oklahoma, we rekindled the old fire. Old home or new home it is the same fire.”