Our Past Is Present October 22, 2018

October 22, 2018

            You are reading to “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            The information for today’s story was written by Ralph Murphy and the late Marilyn Heldstab and may be found on page 110 of the Set In Stone book, which is available at our Museum. The story is about the First United Methodist Church in Junction City. 

            “Apparently the first Methodist church building was shared with congregations of other denominations for a time, because the Baptists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians all had buildings in various stages of construction soon after the Civil War. 

            The Methodist congregation began to grow and there became a need for a larger building.  By June of 1892, Pastor John Cook reported that a committee had been instructed to “buy lots to build a church on and they were located at the northwest corner of Eighth and Jefferson Streets. As the church was being built there was a “severe money panic” and construction was halted.  It wasn’t until August of 1894 that trustees decided to continue construction with an estimated completion date of January 1, 1895. 

            During construction, however, a hard rain and hailstorm swept over the city on September 14^th.  More than half of the rafters were blown down and some of the east wall was knocked over.  It took time to repair the damages.

            The new church, which was called the Methodist Episcopal Church was finally ready for dedication on December 18, 1894.  The completed church cost about $13,000 thanks to the financial assistance made by the construction workers.  Each man gave a portion of the regular wage rate as his contribution towards helping to pay for the church. 

            In the 1920s, Junction City’s First Methodist Church became the First United Methodist Church, when Pastor S.L. Buckner facilitated the uniting of the church with the Zion Methodist (German) congregation.  In August of 1994, Junction City’s First United Methodist Church marked the 100^th anniversary of the dedication of their present house of worship.” Next year will mark their 125^th Anniversary.

            And… that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.