(Following are excerpts from the Range Line Presbyterian Church History)

Sometime before September in 1889, pledges were taken for the purpose of building and furnishing a union church near the Jone's Spring in the N.W. corner of S-30, T-48, R-21, Pettis County, Missouri. In a letter written by Nell Montgomery in 1965, she said her father, Thomas, and his cousin, Jim Scott, went around the countryside soliciting pledges to build and later support a union church.

Five rules were written down concerning the church: (1) The church was to be under the control of Methodist, Baptist, Cumberland Presbyterian and Old School Presbyterian. (2) The name selected was Range Line Union Church. (3) A board of trustees was to be elected every five years: one from each denomination. (4) A building committee, comprised of one from each denomination, was to have charge of the building. (5) The pledges were not binding until seven hundred dollars were pledged.

On the first Saturday in September, 1889, at 3 p.m., a meeting was held to elect a board of trustees of each denomination represented in the union. D.P. Finley, J.W. Blackburn, R.W. Finley, and E.W. Jones were elected trustees. One of the trustees was elected as clerk and it was his job to keep a permanent record in a book. The trustees were to keep the title to the church grounds, have charge of the building and grounds, supervise the employment of a janitor and raise funds for ruel, lights, and other expenses.

The building committee was to have the authority to pruchase materials and employ workmen or let it out on contract to the lowest bidder most conductive to building the best church for the least money.

On October 11, 1889, a Warranty Deed was filed at the Pettis County Courthouse in Sedalia, Missouri, for a tract of land ninety-six yards square out of the N.W. corner of S-30, T-48, R-21, given by Ellis West Jones and his wife, Calista Jane Jones, for church purposes.

Range Line Union Church was built by John Riddle and the men of the community. John Riddle also built the old pews and pulpit. When new pews were purchased, the old pews were sold to the church members and were used on their porches and in their yards. The pulpit is in the basement of Range Line Church.

The church was built facing Range Line Road on the west. The thirty-by-forty foot structure sat in the center of the church property, but next to the road on the west side. An arched framework, matching the arched windows, was above the west outside double doors. There were wooden shutters on the church at one time. They were painted either a dark blue-green or black. It is thought the shutters were put on when the church was built. No one knows what became of them, but it is supposed they deteriorated and were taken off or had fallen off. The chimney, which was in the center of the roof, was braced inthe attic. The church was heated by two box stoves, called monkey stoves, one on each side of the altar. Each stove pipe ran upward and joined together before passing through the ceiling to the chimney. Lightning struck the chimney several times.

In April 1890, after the church was built, Rufus Finley and others wrote to the Lafayette Presbytery asking that presbytery to appoint a committee to visit the neighborhood and organize a church. The Lafayette Presbytery resolved the (1) Reverend Joshua Barbee, Dr. John Montgomery, and Elder J.B. White be appointed a committee to visit the neighborhood where the church was built near the county lines of Saline and Pettis and Ranges 21-22, to see if the way was clear to organize a church. (2) They resolved that the people had permission to employ Reverend Joshua Barbee for as much of his time as would not conflict with the engagements he had.

In September 1890, a series of meetings was held by the Evangelist of the Synod of Missouri, Reverend Drew, and Reverend Joshua Barbee. J.W. Blackburn, Mary Blackburn, Joseph Blackburn, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Schondelmaier, Misses Vina and Kate Schondelmaier, Charles and John Lewis, Miss Erma Riddle, Doctor J.T. Brown, Misses Laura and Virginia C. Brown, and Bertram Brown came forward to unite with the church at that time.

On April 14, 1890, Reverend Joshua Barbee, Reverend John Montgomery, and Elder J.B. White met at the church on the Range Line. Reverend Joshua Barbee preached a sermon and then gave the opportunity to anyone who wished to join the organization. Eleven persons came forward: John Montgomery Jr., Emma Montgomery, James E. Scott, Allie Scott, R.W. Finley, Mary B. Finley, Sarah Finley, Emma Finley, Nellie Montgomery, Ada Finley, and Mary H. Finley. Rufus W. Finley and John Montgomery Jr. were elected elders, and James E. Scott was elected as a deacon. Range Line was kept as the name of the newly organized Presbyterian church. Two weeks later the officers were ordained by Reverend Barbee, and in August 1890, Rufus W. Finley was chosen as the first clerk of the Range Line Session.

In December 1890, Frederick Shondelmaier and Charles Schondelmaier presented themselves before the session and were received into the communion of Range Line Church. So ends the first year of the Range Line Presbyterian Church.