The History of the FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH in LARAMIE, WYOMING
In July 1868, the first Sunday School in Laramie was begun by Mrs. Charles Wright and her daughter Jennie, who were Methodists, and Mrs. Jane Ivinson, an Episcopalian. Mrs. Wright was its first superintendent. From this beginning a "Union Sabbath School" and an Episcopal parish were organized in the fall of 1868. Dr. G. F. Hilton, a physician from Wisconsin who had come west to regain his health, arrived in Laramie that same year. He had served as.a local preacher in Wisconsin and organized a Methodist Society in Laramie in December 1868. In March 1869 Dr. Hilton was appointed preacher in charge of the newly- formed Methodist Church in Laramie by Rev. Andrew J. Cather, Presiding Elder of the "Dacotah" District of the Colorado Conference. The Laramie Church listed seven members in 1869.
In June 1869, three lots on the southeast comer of Second (then called Center Street) and University (B Street) were obtained from the Union Pacific Railroad, which had offered free land to all churches along their route. By December 1870, a new frame building had been completed for $3,000 under the leadership of Rev. Edward C. Brooks, who was only 23 years old when appointed 'junior preacher" of the Cheyenne, Laramie and Greeley Circuit.
From its inception, the Laramie church had shared a pastor with the Cheyenne church, but with the appointment of Rev. Wilbur Mappin in 1872, the two towns became separate charges. The membership during the early 1870's hovered around 27. However, after the arrival of Rev. J. A. Edmondson in 1875 it increased to 37. After several ups and downs and eight more pastors, by 1892 members numbered 156.
The second home of the Laramie congregation was on the southwest comer of Fifth and Thornburgh (now Ivinson). The building, valued at $10,000, was completed in the summer of 1905 during the ministry of Rev. Frank Bross.
The Wesley Foundation in Laramie was organized in 1921-22, and in 1929 began using a building first erected in 1866 as part of old Fort Sanders and later moved to Fifth St (This building now serves as the Youth Crisis Center in LaBonte Park.)
In the fall of 1959 land was purchased from Albany County School District #1, and by the spring of 1961, during the ministry of Rev. R. Jay Wilson, the present education building had been completed. Services were held in Wilson Hall until the completion of the present sanctuary, in 1968 during the ministry of Rev. Glenn Barney. Upon the recent arrival of Rev. David Lillie (FUMC) and Rev. Carol Lillie (Wesley Foundation) in August, 2003, local membership is in excess of 400.
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