First Methodist Church was erected in 1865 A.D. by pioneer lumberman Henry Martin Loud, who that year founded in the area one of the largest lumber operations in Michigan. The church burned in the fire that destroyed the town of Au Sable and most of the adjoining town of Oscoda on July 11, 1911, causing the loss of four lives and leaving three thousand persons homeless. The Reverend Levi Bird was the pastor at that time.