Lafferty Memorial Church
Lafferty disbanded in 1969 and its members requested the church at 8th
and Neeley be sold and the funds divided between Philander Smith College
and the First United Methodist Church of Batesville. The known history
of Lafferty, organized in the Methodist Episcopal Church, dates from
1870 when trustees, one being Elisha Baxter who became Governor of
Arkansas in 1872, purchased a lot for the Church at 3rd and Boswell. The
church was moved to 8th and Neeley in 1917. Mrs. Benita Smily and David
Pope who attended Lafferty became the first Negro members of the First
United Methodist Church in Batesville.
