Our church enjoys a long history in Greenville. Our congregation was founded in 1805. We meet in a historically-registered building built in 1899.

          As southern Indiana was being settled in the early 1800’s, churches were being built right along with the houses and were the hearts of their communities. Greenville was located on the turnpike from Louisville, KY to Vincennes (the territorial capital), one of the oldest towns in the western country. For nearly 75 years stagecoaches traveled this mud road and provided a source of income to towns located along the toll road. In 1816, Indiana became a state and the town of Greenville was officially established. Three more years would pass before they received a post office.  
          Early in the 1800’s, the Methodists had two log buildings in Greenville Township for their services. By approximately 1830, the towns of Greenville and the neighboring town of Galena wanted Methodist churches that were located nearer to where the towns had developed, not on creek banks in the country as they were at the time. In Greenville, a church was organized and met in the schoolhouse until a building was eventually built in 1838. This building was a one-room, one story frame building. The church was torn down to build the current structure in the same location after additional lots were acquired. This building is a clear statement that the members wanted something permanent and the town had reached a size to support such a plan. The Simpson Chapel was built in 1899 and construction was completed in only 60 days.
         The building itself would not have been possible had it not been for the generosity of a former Greenville, IN resident John Baptiste Ford, the father of the plate glass industry in America. He had since moved to Pennsylvania to found the Pittsburgh Plate and Glass (PP&G) company and he agreed to fund the construction of the church. 
          In 1899, four years before Capt Ford's death, he was asked by some citizens of Greenville IN to help build a new Methodist church. He pledged the considerable sum of $3,000 towards the construction of the new church. As a former resident of Greenville, he still thought of the city and her residents quite fondly. Original bids to construct the church came in at between $4,000 and $4,900. Plans were then changed and a new estimate of $3,500 was bid. Capt Ford generously pledged an additional $500.
          While residents of Greenville wanted to name the church after him, Capt Ford requested that the church to be named after Bishop Matthew Simpson who had been a US senator for Indiana and later the chaplain for the US Senate. Additionally, Bishop Simpson was a close confidant of President Lincoln and delivered the president's funeral oration.
    On March 26, 1908, a house fire started in a condemned flue. Within 30 minutes, most of the town was on fire. Miraculously, the Simpson Memorial Chapel was not touched while houses across the street from it were destroyed. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.