Methodist Church

For decades, this neighborhood Methodist Church served the local community. Founded in 1901, this church campus was constructed in the 1920s. When the parishioners met in 1925 for their first service in the new sanctuary, they gazed at a central pulpit with a choir in a loft behind the altar. The hard surfaces and high-arch ceiling above the nave provided excellent acoustics for choir and organ, as well as for speaking in an era without amplification. The organ in the sanctuary seems to have been a two-manual, nine-rank instrument by the E.M. Skinner Company of Boston installed in 1929.

The years following the end of the Second World War were a time of great growth for the Methodist Church, as the GI Bill enabled returning soldiers to pursue college, and the “Baby Boom” had its effect on the many young families in the neighborhood. The late 1940s and early 1950s were a time when the children’s choir was at its peak.  In what would today be regarded as a certain risk of fire hazard, all the children sang with lighted candles in the sanctuary. It was well-understood that, to get a seat in the sanctuary, one had to arrive some thirty minutes ahead of time for any of the services.

As the demographics of the neighborhood changed beginning in the 1960s, the church’s membership steadily declined. Unable to maintain its membership, the congregation disbanded in the early 1990s. After closing, the church’s massive pipe organ was purchased and relocated to another Methodist Church across town. The church property was sold to the city and later leased to a nonprofit. Plans for the sanctuary included exhibit spaces as well as a performance hall, however, those plans have not materialized.

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