Present day
circa 1905
First United Methodist Church of Mesa will celebrate its 125th anniversary in the heart of Mesa on the weekend of Nov. 16 through 18.
Recognized by the City of Mesa as a historic landmark, the church will open its doors, at 15 E. First Ave., for a free concert featuring its Centennial Organ, at
7:30 p.m., on Friday, Nov. 16.
If you appreciate music, you will want to enjoy it surrounded by the sanctuary’s superb acoustics and evocative stained glass windows.
On Sunday, Nov. 18, at the 9 a.m. worship service, Bishop Bob Hoshibata, of the United Methodist Church Western District Phoenix Episcopal Area, will be the guest speaker. Mesa Mayor John Giles will then speak at a brunch for the congregation.
When the church was organized in 1893, Mesa was a small community of about 700 people, and Arizona was a territory struggling through a drought and low wool prices. People were abandoning the territory, according to a report to the church’s missionary society in New York City.
But fresh late rains stirred new hopes. “God has not forsaken Arizona,” wrote the church’s superintendent for the Arizona Territory, in his report to the missionary society.
In Mesa, Iowa transplant Dr. E.W. Wilbur was founding a Methodist Church comprised of nine adults and six children. The seeds of the church began in 1892 when he held Sunday school classes in a barn near where Stapley Drive and Main Street intersect today.
In the fall of 1893, a church home for this fledgling congregation started taking shape in Downtown Mesa when Dr. Wilbur acquired two parcels of land on the south side of First Street across from where the Mesa Arts Center stands today. In the following year, construction began at the site on a one-room brick chapel.
The congregation outgrew the one-room church, and a new Spanish Colonial-style church was built on the site of the first church in 1913. Members hauled sand and gravel from the Salt River for concrete. The cost of the 1913 church was $8,835.
After World War II ended, Mesa’s population began to swell and plans for a third church started to take shape. The church campus grew to include the corner lot at Center Street and First Avenue, thanks to a memorial gift from the John Dobson family.
The first part of the new church to be completed was the 120-foot tower—today an iconic feature of Downtown Mesa.
Today’s First Church was designed by Mesa architect Martin Ray Young Jr., a descendant of Brigham Young. Martin was Mesa’s first architect and was credited with designing more than 1,600 projects in a 50-year career.
During dedication ceremonies in 1958, the church building’s design was said to express “… aspiration. The lines have an upward trend, expressing faith and praise…”
About 10 years after the new church was built, a young liturgical design artist was hired to design stained glass windows in the church nave and attached chapel, and to carve front door panels that depict the Christmas Story. The artist, Maureen McGuire, had been trained at the Pope Pius XII Institute in Florence, Italy.
In 2014, the City of Mesa recognized First United Methodist Church of Mesa as a historic landmark. In announcing the decision, the city said this about First Church:
“In existence since the late 1800s, the church campus is the oldest one still in continuous use in Mesa. Its steeple has had a presence on the downtown skyline since the 1950s.”
“First United Methodist was the church home to the late U.S. Rep. John J. Rhodes, who represented Mesa for 30 years. The congregation sponsored the city’s first Boy Scouts of America troop, Troop No. 1, in 1922. The current church was designed by Martin Ray Young Jr., Mesa’s first architect…”
The city noted “the importance of the church congregation to Mesa’s history…”
Come worship with us and celebrate 125 years of Mesa history, beautiful music and a glorious sanctuary. For more information, call (480) 969-5577. First United Methodist Church of Mesa is located at 15 E. First Ave.