Alto, Cherokee County
Circuit riding preachers served the Methodists of this community as early as 1845. The first written records of this church date from 1852, when the Rev. Andrew Cummings (1817-1882) organized the fellowship as a station of the newly established Rusk circuit. Originally a Methodist society, it became in 1866 the Methodist Episcopal Church South of Alto. Early services were held in the schoolhouse. In 1887 A. C. Harrison (1841-1924) and his wife Virginia (1843-1912) donated land at the site of the present-day parsonage for the congregation's first church building. Dr. C. W. Fisher, Mrs. Harrison's brother, designed the one-room spired structure and built a scale model of it. The building was enlarged under the leadership of the Rev. J. W. Johnson, who was named pastor in 1909, when Alto became a full-time station with weekly services. A new sanctuary was built on the present site in 1921. It was dedicated in 1935 at a ceremony led by Bishop A. Frank Smith (1889-1962), who began his ministry as interim pastor of this church. In 1960 the present building was erected and the congregation renamed to honor Bishop Smith.