Park History Series Part 1

Dear Park Avenue, 

In a recent sermon, Jon Urban mentioned that Park Avenue had started in the back of a drugstore at the corner of 35th and Chicago. This historical tidbit was met with a surprised murmur from the congregation. It's fun to learn new (old) information about a place we think we know so well, so this is the first in an occasional series on the history of our beloved Park Avenue United Methodist Church.

In 1893, the W.H. Sheridan family moved to the 3400 block of Elliot Ave S. They felt it was too far to commute to their Methodist church at 13th Ave and 10th St (2 miles away!), so they asked their pastor to start a Sunday School and Sunday afternoon preaching series in the back of a nearby drugstore.

Later that year, the church was formally organized with 13 charter members and purchased two lots at the corner of Park Avenue and 34th Street for $3000.

Other city churches contributed the first $1000 to this "missionary and city extension" project, and a mortgage was taken out for the remainder.

By November 1893, they had built a 30' x 30' wooden structure on the site. Expansions over the next five years doubled the building's size and included a tower. In 1898, church membership had grown to 143.

That humble beginning in the back of a drugstore on the (then) edge of town is a testament to how something small, rooted in purpose, can grow into something deeply meaningful and enduring, still reaching out from the corner of Park and 34th.

"Park Avenue Church, circa 1898"

When did that quaint wooden church turn into our familiar brick building?  Stay tuned for the next installment of our Park Avenue history series! 

In Community,

Carla Urban