Asbury First United Methodist Church

Last updated
Asbury First United Methodist Church
AFUMC front.jpg
Asbury First United Methodist Church
Location1050 East Ave. Rochester, NY 14607
Country United States
Denomination United Methodist Church
Website AsburyFirst.org
History
Founded1821(First), 1836(Asbury), 1933(Union)
Founder(s)Dr. Weldon Crossland (Pastor 1932-1959)
Dedicated1955
Architecture
Style American Gothic

Asbury First United Methodist Church is located on East Avenue in Rochester, New York, United States. It traces its heritage to several Rochester congregations dating back to the 1820s. [1] In its current form, it is the result of a 1934 merger of First Church and Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church. With a congregation of 2,300 people, it is the largest United Methodist church in the Rochester area. [1]

Contents

Asbury First presents an annual concert series featuring regional musicians and national touring groups. The Asbury First Dining and Caring Center serves meals to the homeless; the Asbury First Storehouse provides donated clothing, kitchenware, and bedding. The church also supports a Grocery Bag Ministry, Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network, School 41 tutoring and outreach, and projects in India, Nicaragua, and Kenya.

Located in the East Avenue Historic District, [2] the church property features several historic buildings, including the 1953 Gothic Sanctuary, and 1050 East Ave., also called the Wilson Soule House, a stone edifice that is one of Rochester's finest examples of Richardsonian Romanesque style. [1]

History

Origin

Asbury First United Methodist Church is the result of the union of two churches and five denominations. The First Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church of the village of Rochester was formed in 1821.

First Methodist

On Sept. 20, 1820 a Methodist Society was legally established in the Village Rochester. In 1821 ground was broken for the first church building, on the west side of South St. Paul Street (now South Avenue) south of Main Street, approximately at the location of the rear right corner of the current Rochester Riverside Convention Center. Completed in 1826, it was built of brick and was described in 1895 newspaper article as “small and unpretentious”. In 1830 a new site for the church was located at the northwest corner of West Main Street and Fitzhugh Street (the future site of the Duffy Powers Department store, now an office building, at 50 West Main Street). On January 5, 1835, this structure was destroyed by fire. Shortly before the fire this congregation had 900 members. After the creation of East Side Methodist in 1836, the remaining First Methodist membership was 300. On January 15, 1839 a replacement First Methodist church was completed and dedicated on the same site. Due to the debt incurred from building two successive church buildings, the building at West Main and Fitzhugh Street was sold in 1854 and abandoned as a church. A lot was secured further north on Fitzhugh Street, at what would be the northwest corner of Fitzhugh and Church Street. [3]

Note: Church Street in Rochester, which runs between State Street and Sophia St. (now known as Exchange Street) was erected in 1883, [4] and ran in between First Methodist on the northwest corner and First Baptist on the southwest corner, with the US Post Office and Federal Building (now Rochester City Hall) on the northeast corner; [5]

Construction of the new building started in 1855 and was completed by 1861. [6]

In 1895, First Methodist decided to tear down their existing building and construct a new church on the site at Church and Fitzhugh,. Architect Arthur B. Jennings of New York City was chosen for the work. The first stage in the reconstruction was the building of a chapel and Sunday school rooms to the rear of the old church, which would serve as a temporary church while the old church was demolished and the new structure built. [7]

This new Sunday School annex and chapel opened in 1895 and fronted 60 feet on Church Street and extended back 120 feet. It was three stories and made of St. Lawrence marble. [8]

In 1900, the Frank Street Methodist Church of Rochester merged into First Methodist. [9]

The new First Methodist Church itself was dedicated in 1901, replacing the former 1855 building and connected to the Chapel and Sunday School building erected four years earlier. The total cost for the church, the chapel and purchase of additional property, was just under $200,000. [10]

In 1933, a fire destroyed the First Methodist Church building. [11]

Asbury Methodist

In 1836, a portion of the congregation of First Methodist formed the Second Methodist Church, meeting in the old Methodist church building on South St. Paul (now South Avenue). The new church was called the East Side Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Rochester. [12]

Second Methodist was renamed St. John's Church in 1844 and became known as Asbury Methodist in 1861. In 1844 the church was located at the southeast corner of East Main Street and South Clinton Avenue. [13]

Both First and Asbury survived hard depressions in the 1840s and 1850s to remain strong influences in the city. A strong Sunday School was developed early, and has continually been a feature of Asbury, First, and Asbury First Churches. [1]

In 1866, Asbury Church purchased a pipe organ, the first Methodist Church to include instrumental music in a service. [1]

A new Asbury Methodist Church was erected at East Avenue and Anson Park in 1885. The architect was A. J. Warner. The total cost of the building was $70,000, a sum raised before the building was dedicated, leaving it debt-free. In the rear of the new church was the Sunday School building, which was the former East Avenue Baptist Church, also known as Second Baptist. The seating capacity was 1,000, including the gallery. The auditorium was set up in a semi-circle, with the floor sloping toward the pulpit. [14]

Merger

In 1933, a few months after the fire that destroyed the First Methodist Church, a merger was completed between Asbury and First Methodist Churches. [15] [1]

Moved to 1050 east avenue

The combined membership of Asbury and First Methodist was over 2,000 and a new church building was needed. Property was purchased in 1943 at 1010 and 1040 East Avenue and the house at 1050 East Avenue in 1950. Groundbreaking for the new church building was in 1953, and the new church dedicated in 1955. [16]

Campus Architecture

The present church building was constructed in 1953-55 in the American Gothic style. The education wing was added in 1961. [1] The stained glass windows were designed by George Haushalter. [17] The construction and style owes much to the dedication of Dr. Weldon Crossland, minister for 28 years. [18]

Two mansions are also part of the campus. 1050 East Ave (The Wilson Soule House) is considered one of the most important 19th century houses surviving in Rochester; it was built in 1890. [19] From 1894 to 1905 George Eastman and his mother lived in the house. Eastman had a darkroom constructed in the basement (now the Asbury First Storehouse) and made other changes to the interior. [19] The building now houses the church's administrative offices. 1010 East Avenue was built in 1907 in a Tudor style, and now houses the Dining and Caring Center and church meeting rooms. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Rochester, New York</span>

Settlement of the city of Rochester in western New York State began in the late 18th century, and the city flourished with the opening of the Erie Canal. It became a major manufacturing center, and attracted many Italians, Germans, Irish and other immigrants, as well as a dominant group of Yankees of New England origin. The Yankees made Rochester the center of multiple reform movements, such as abolitionism and women's rights. It was famous as the center of the American photography industry and the headquarters of Eastman Kodak. In the 1970s it became fashionable to use the term "Rust Belt" for the industrial cities along the Great Lakes following the move away from steel, chemical and other hard goods manufacturing. Rochester, with the presence of Ritter-Pfaudler, Bausch and Lomb, Eastman Kodak, Xerox, Gannett and other major industries, defied the trend for many decades following World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regina's historic buildings and precincts</span> Historic architecture of Regina, Saskatchewan

Many historically significant buildings in Regina, Saskatchewan were lost during the period 1945 through approximately 1970 when the urge to "modernize" overtook developers' and city planners' sense of history and heritage. The old warehouse district to the north of the old CPR tracks was Regina's original commercial raison d'être once Lieutenant-Governor Edgar Dewdney had established the site of his considerable landholdings as the Territorial Capital. 1899 to 1919 Washington Park and 3431 Dewdney Ave building as CPR commercial logistics building, expanded connected with significant conversion of shipping of commercial goods from train to truck and cancellation of passenger service on the railway, the Warehouse District immediately adjacent to the train line has ceased to be exclusively industrial in character. Some areas of the Warehouse District have been transformed into a shopping, entertainment and residential precinct.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University United Methodist Church</span> Church in the United States

University United Methodist Church, Austin, Texas, is a United Methodist Church belonging to the Rio Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Located at the corner of 24th Street and Guadalupe Street, UUMC has been a fixture near the University of Texas at Austin campus for more than 120 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asbury & West United Church</span> Church in Canada., Canada

Asbury & West United Church is a United Church of Canada church in the Bathurst and Lawrence area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The congregation has one of the longest continual histories of any in Toronto. It traces its history back to 1812 and meetings of small groups of Methodist settlers in what was an area being newly settled by Europeans. The first services were held in the farmhouse of Henry Mulholland, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Battle of Lundy's Lane. He first came to Canada from Ireland in 1806, settling in the area that would later be named Henry Farm after him. He later moved further west to what is now the Bathurst and Lawrence area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Building (Rochester, New York)</span> Commercial office space, loft apartments in New York, U.S.

The Temple Building is the name of a high-rise building located in Rochester, New York, United States. Standing at 218 feet (66 m), it is the eleventh-tallest building in Rochester. In the early 1920's, Reverend Clinton Wunder, Pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Rochester, NY, convinced his congregation to build the Temple Building. The parish had outgrown their existing church. Wunder thought that a nine-story building would become an economic engine for the Church's mission. Eventually the plans changed to a fourteen-story building. Many in the congregation thought that it was unwise to build a fourteen-story "Skyscraper Church."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochester Savings Bank</span> Historic commercial building in New York, United States

Rochester Savings Bank is a historic bank building located at Rochester in Monroe County, New York. It is a four-story, V-shaped structure, sheathed in Kato stone from Minnesota. It was designed by McKim, Mead and White and built in 1927 to house the Rochester Savings Bank. The building's banking room interior features murals painted by noted artist Ezra Winter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Ann Church (Manhattan)</span> Former church in Manhattan, New York

St. Ann’s Church was the name of a former Roman Catholic parish church at 110-120 East 12th Street between Fourth and Third Avenues in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West-Park Presbyterian Church</span> Church in New York City

West-Park Presbyterian Church is a Romanesque Revival Presbyterian church located on the corner of Amsterdam Avenue at 86th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It consists of a main sanctuary and chapel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downtown Rochester</span> Neighborhood in Rochester, New York, United States

Downtown Rochester is the economic center of Rochester, New York, and the largest in Upstate New York, employing more than 50,000 people, and housing more than 6,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Methodist Church, Eastbourne</span> Church in East Sussex , United Kingdom

The former Central Methodist Church was until 2018 the main Methodist place of worship in Eastbourne, a town and borough in the English county of East Sussex. The large town-centre building, with attached schoolrooms and ancillary buildings, was the successor to earlier Methodist places of worship in the area. Soldiers brought the denomination to the area in 1803, when an isolated collection of clifftop villages stood where the 19th-century resort town of Eastbourne developed. A society they formed in that year to encourage Methodism's growth and outreach survives. Local Methodist worshipper and historian Carlos Crisford designed the lavish church in 1907, and it has been used for worship ever since—even as several other Methodist churches in the town and surrounding villages have declined and closed. For several years until 2013, it also housed a Baptist congregation displaced from their own church building. Central Methodist Church is a Grade II listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chapel Allerton</span> Suburb of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England

Chapel Allerton is an inner suburb of north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, 2 miles (3.2 km) from the city centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">27th Street Historic District</span> Historic district in California, United States

The 27th Street Historic District is a historic district in the South Los Angeles area of Los Angeles, California. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 as part of the multiple property submission for African Americans in Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knox-Metropolitan United Church (Regina, Saskatchewan)</span> Church in Regina, Saskatchewan

Knox-Metropolitan United Church stands on Lorne Street at Victoria Avenue across from Victoria Park in downtown Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the current manifestation of Presbyterian and Methodist congregations that date back to "worship services in both traditions…in 1882."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gurdwara Sahib Woolwich</span> Gurdwara in Greenwich, London

The Gurdwara Sahib Woolwich is a Sikh gurdwara in central Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, South East London. It was built in 1814–16 as a Methodist church and converted into a Sikh place of worship in the late 1970s. The main hall is Grade II-listed; the former Soldier's Institute and Sunday School next door, now in use as a langar hall, is not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meridian Street United Methodist Church</span> United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, IN, US

Meridian Street United Methodist Church, known in its early years as Wesley Chapel, the Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Meridian Street Methodist Church, is a Methodist church located at 5500 North Meridian Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. The church originated from the first Methodist congregation in Indianapolis that began in a log cabin in 1821–22 with fifty members. The congregation worshipped at several locations and erected four earlier churches on Monument Circle and along Meridian Street in downtown Indianapolis before it merged with the Fifty-first Street Methodists in 1945. The first service at its North Meridian Street location was held on June 29, 1952. Designed by the architectural firm of Russ and Harrison, the Georgian-Colonial-style, red-brick church is noted for its architecture, pipe organ, and formal parlor. The Aldersgate addition on the west side (rear) of the church was consecrated on October 4, 1989.

The Oliver Culver House is the oldest residential structure in the city of Rochester, New York and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asbury AME Church</span> African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chester, Pennsylvania

Asbury AME Church is an African Methodist Episcopal Church founded in 1845 in Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the second African Methodist Episcopal church founded in Chester behind the Union African Methodist Church in 1832. Asbury AME Church is located at 1712 Providence Avenue and is an active worship center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madison Street Methodist Episcopal Church</span>

Madison Street Methodist Episcopal Church is a Methodist Episcopal Church built in 1874 in Chester, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located at 701 Madison Street. The building is currently being used by the Wesley House Community Corporation as a homeless shelter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgerton (neighborhood)</span> Rochester, NY neighborhood

Edgerton is a neighborhood in the Northwest Quadrant of Rochester, New York that sits between the Genesee River on the east and the Erie Canal bed on the west. One of the city's oldest and largest residential areas, Edgerton is among the most ethnically, linguistically, and racially diverse communities in Western New York. The neighborhood has been called "the Bermuda Triangle of Rochester" because of its "nearly invisible" status in local politics. Edgerton is currently the poorest neighborhood in Rochester, with an Unemployment Rate higher than that of the United States during the Great Depression.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Henn, Richard W; et al. (1978). A History of Asbury First United Methodist Church of Rochester, New York. Rochester, NY: Records and History Committee, Asbury First UMC. Richard Henn
  2. "New York- Monroe County- Historic Districts". nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com. American Dreams, Inc. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  3. Rchester Democrat and Chronicle, 7/7/1895 p. 12; see also 75th anniversary of First Methodist as a legal corporation, Democrat and Chronicle 9/19/1895 p. 10
  4. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 3/24/1883 p. 4
  5. See 1888 Rochester Plat map: Robinson's Atlas of the City of Rochester, 1888, plate #1
  6. https://asburyfirst.org/history/
  7. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 4/13/1895 p. 13; 7/6/1895 p. 14; 7/24/1895 p. 7
  8. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 2/27/1897 p. 14; 7/6/1895 p. 14; 3/1/1897 p. 9
  9. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 10/2/1900 p. 10
  10. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 6/21/1901 p. 12
  11. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 5/3/1933 p. 1
  12. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 7/7/1895 p. 12
  13. http://mcnygenealogy.com/church1.htm#me
  14. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 6/26/1885 p. 6
  15. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 2/10/34 p. 10
  16. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 4/28/43 p. 17; 1/5/1950 p. 15; see also 1/17/1950 p. 14; 2/21/53 p. 6; 6/12/1955 p. 33., 6/13/1955 p. 15
  17. Leigh Remizowski (August 13, 2006). "George Haushalter". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle-Rochester, N.Y. Democrat and Chronicle - Rochester, N.Y.
  18. "Case Study: Facilities Master Planning". 2004. Archived from the original on 2010-09-24. Retrieved 18 August 2010. InspiredAssociates.com
  19. 1 2 "Driving Tour of Eastman's Rochester" (PDF). Retrieved 18 August 2010.[ permanent dead link ] EastmanHouse.org

43°9′5″N77°34′33″W / 43.15139°N 77.57583°W / 43.15139; -77.57583