It was in the year 1880 that a small group of Methodists living in the northern part of Marion County, Florida found it inconvenient to attend religious services at the Micanopy church and decided they would ask the preacher, who had some Sunday afternoons free, to come out and preach for them one Sunday afternoon each month. This, they did, and the preacher agreed to come. They arranged for him to preach in a vacant house near Mrs. Mary Geiger's home. This little house, which belonged to Mary Geiger, was on the side of the road a short distance east of where the church now stands.

The preacher was a Mr. Smith, the pastor of the Micanopy Methodist church. The congregation would be composed of Methodists, Baptists and Lutherans.

The group decided to build a new church on an acre of land that was deeded to the church by Mary Geiger. (Unfortunately, the 1880 deed for that acre of land was lost.) The countryside in 1880 was lined with heavy pine forests. Mr. Jake (Jacob Muscoe) Feaster, who lived a mile north of the church lot, owned a sawmill; he sawed lumber for the new church and placed it on the lot. Mr. George Leitner, Sr., who lived a mile south of the church lot, rived the pine shingles that would cover the building.

With everyone working and pulling together, the church was finished, with the exception of the ceiling, and the doors opened to welcome all who wished to come in and worship. The official dedication was in the summer of 1885.

The Conference has sent a preacher to Shiloh every year except one year, which happened about the turn of the century. As it happened, at that time there were some Presbyterians in the neighborhood. They wanted a Presbyterian preacher, so as all wanted some religious service, they contracted with the Presbyterian minister in McIntosh to give them one sermon a month till Conference met again. The Conference sent us a preacher for the next year but put us on the Reddick Circuit.

The Conference has furnished Shiloh with some of the best preachers. I will give names of a few of the older preachers who have served our church and whose names will be remembered by many of you: J.C. Ley, who was once the president of the East Florida Seminary; E.F. Stenmire; B. F. Mason; J. P. Hilburn; C.E. Cook and many others.

In 1933, Mr. J.J. Leitner bought the track of land containing the church lot. The 1st day of December 1922 Mr. J. J. Leitner and wife, Dillie A. Leitner, deeded an additional two acres of land to the church, bringing the church lot to the paved highway in front of the church. This deed is recorded in the public records of Marion County, Florida in deed book 22 on page 42. The deed is kept by D.R. Zetrouer, chairman of the board of trustees.

A number of the children of the older families who organized and built the church are attending church and Sunday school in the same church building. The church has been a blessing to the community.

In all this time, there have been but two marriage services in the church, that of Mr. Tom Belew and Miss Alice Searcey, and Mr. Albert Dupuis and Miss Lola Rataree.

— Mary Zetrouer Dreher

See: Early Church Families and Leaders