HISTORY OF FIRST METHODIST CHURCH
1870 - Present

Wichita, Kansas

INTRODUCTION

These web pages are from a book of the same title. It was originally put together in the 1940s & has been kept up to date since.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Peggy Metz, who restored the book to usable condition. She spent many hours freshening the material. Without her work, placing this book on the web would have been impractical.

My thanks also to Polly McMillan, chairperson of the Archives committee, for her help in making this fascinating book available to us.

David Wood
1stumc-wichita.org webmaster

The need for a unified concise history of the development of the First Methodist Church first became apparent to the author in the early forties, when she was in charge of the Youth Church. The compilation of a small booklet resulted.

Later in 1945, under the inspiration of Miss Harriet Stanley, who had been commissioned by Dr. Thomas A. Williams to write a more comprehensive history covering all the activities of the church program, more information in the form of sketches is included in Volume II of the First Methodist Church History.

The following pages contain photographs, short biographies of ministers, and abbreviated reports of their activities, as well as a record of places of worship and parsonages, from the year 1870 to May, 1961. The material is divided into twenty-five year periods.

In interest of brevity, many interesting anecdotes of ministers' families, as well as references to many other worthy persons have been regretfully omitted.

To the wives of the ministers, who often were the inspiration and "power behind the throne", to all the assistant and associate ministers and to the many others who helped to make this church effective through the years, the author wishes to pay homage.

I also wish to express my sincere thanks to the many members and friends of our "church family" who supplied pictures and material for this compilation, especially to Mr. A. L. Hickman who inscribed the titles on most of the photographs, to Mr. Floyd Mullendore who made extra copies of the photographs, and to my beloved husband who photographed the pictures, and without whose help and inspiration this history could not have been completed.

Mrs. A. E. (Marion A.) Hiebert

OPTION 1: Study our history in chronological order:

FIRST QUARTER CENTURY1870 - 1896
SECOND QUARTER CENTURY1896 - 1920
THIRD QUARTER CENTURY1920 - 1945
FOURTH QUARTER CENTURY1945 - 1970
FIFTH QUARTER CENTURY1970 - 1995
SIXTH QUARTER CENTURY1995 - Present

OPTION 2: Click on Pastor's name to see summary of his tenure:

SENIOR PASTORS - FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 1870-2004

Mr. W. H. Zellers - Itinerant Minister 1870 - 1871
Rev. Milton M. Haun - Itinerant Minister1871 - 1872
Rev. J. C. Nessley - First Appointed Minister 1872 - 1873
Rev. J. W. Stogdill - March 1873 Died Oct. 1873
Rev. H. J. Walker 1873 - 1874
Rev. James T. Hanna 1874 - 1877
Rev. John Kirby 1877 - 1880
Rev. Reuben S. Sparks 1880 - 1881
Rev. Bernard Kelly 1881 - 1884
Rev. D. W. Phillips 1884 - 1885
Rev. T. S. Hodgson 1885 - 1888
Dr. Martin L. Gates 1888 - 1889
Rev. Richard T. Savin 1889 - 1891
Rev. Levi N. Hartley 1891 - 1893
Dr. Don S. Colt 1893 - 1896
Dr. Worthington B. Slutz 1896 - 1900
Rev. Frank Lynch 1900 - 1907
Rev. William R. Runyan 4 months in 1905
Dr. John H. Cudlipp 1907 - 1909
Dr. William H. Heppe 1909 - 1914
Dr. John R. McFadden 1914 - 1921
Dr. Edgar A. Lowther 1921 - 1925
Dr. James Brett Kenna 1926 - 1928
Dr. Albert J. Croft 1928 - 1931
Dr. Frank Neff 1931 - 1936
Dr. Thomas A. Williams 1936 - 1952
Rev. D. Coyd Taggart 1952 - 1953
Dr. Ronald R. Meredith 1953 - 1967
Dr. D. Lawrence Landrum 1967 - 1968
Dr. Forrest J. Robinson 1968 - 1974
Dr. Richard B. Wilke 1974 - 1984
Dr. Edward A. Rowley 1984 - 1986
Dr. Daniel E. Bonner, Jr. 1987 - 1992
Dr. Kelly Bender 1992 - 2001
Rev. Alan Lindal 2001 - 2003
Dr. Michael Gardner 2004 - present


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