St. Paul Methodist Church is located about 5 miles north of Goshen on State Road B in section 11, township 65, range 25 in Harrison Township, Mercer County, Missouri. It was organized about 1880 and was an active meeting place for many years. As the rural population of the area decreased and transportation became easier, most of the remaining active members began to attend the more active churches in Princeton, about 11 miles away. As a result, St. Paul was disbanded as a Methodist Church and the building deeded to the St. Paul Cemetery Association on May 29, 1968.
Before the cemetery was established two or three graves were located in the church yard. These graves were later removed to the cemetery across the road.
St. Paul Methodist Church received its name from one of its founders. According to an obituary found pasted into a book bought at garage sale, "In the fall of 1870 the [Harper] family came to Missouri, settling on a farm in Mercer County, about six miles east of Cainsville. Coming to their new home, they [W. H. and Margaret C. Harper] found no religious organization within reach, and she, with her companioin, instead of settling down in religious indifference, set about the work of providing religious services, and soon a little society was organized in a schoolhouse near their home. These services were maintained in the schoolhouse until a church was erected nearby, which was, in accordance with [Margaret's] desires, named St. Paul M. E. Church in memory of her spiritual birthplace." According to "JV", the original writer of this history, Margaret was born in Montreal, Canada, but called Noble County, Ohio her spiritual birthplace.
Appropriately, both Margaret and W. H. Harper are buried in the St. Paul Cemetery.