When missionaries traveling west in the 1800s came upon the Mississippi River, they usually turned back instead of crossing.

When local Baptists came to Goose Creek in Jackson, Mo., in 2005, they went through it and followed the gravel road to the site of Old Bethel, the first Baptist church built west of the Mississippi.

Their mission: Rebuild the church.

The original Old Bethel was built in 1806, after the Louisiana Purchase gave control of the land to the United States.

It has been rebuilt over the past two years using original materials and the same construction methods used in the 19th century.

The brick, wood and steel building was officially called Bethel Baptist Church, but most know it as Old Bethel.

The Missouri Baptist Convention currently owns the building and has funded the project through contributions.

About 60 volunteers worked Thursdays through Saturdays for four to five hours a day for two years to construct what they think the original metal building looked like. Ten to 12 volunteers worked at any one time.

Now the building is finished, with heat and air conditioning installed, and a new roof atop the metal building to protect it.

The building is fitted for electricity but runs on a generator at the present time. The land the building sits on must be owned by the city of Jackson before power can be run out there.

The steel building itself was only part of the project. The gravel road out to the church has been widened. The creek now has a low-water bridge to make the passage across easier.

Before the road was fixed and the bridge installed, only tractors and four-wheel-drive trucks could access the site because the church is set behind an industrial park and surrounded by fields and woods.