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Local Church Marks 200 Years
First United Methodist Church of Crawfordsville is observing the 200th anniversary of its founding.
The Church has celebrated its bicentennial throughout the year with activities including attendance at an Indianapolis Indians baseball game where the Chancel Choir performed the National Anthem. An historical timeline has been on display in the hallway outside the Church parlor, and members have presented the history of the Church in 25-year segments during summer Sunday morning worship services. The Crawfordsville District Public Library had a special display outside its local history room to honor the Church’s bicentennial. In June, Church members took part in the annual Strawberry Festival worship service, and served strawberries and ice cream at a Montgomery County Civic Band concert in July. Also in July, the Church hosted a cookout with the Rainbows & Rhymes preschool families.
The bicentennial celebrations will culminate on Sunday with coffee and conversation in the Church parlor at 9:30 a.m., followed by a special worship service in the sanctuary at 10:30 a.m.
The Church was started in September 1825, by five women: Maria Winters Elston, wife of Major Isaac Elston; her mother, Sylvia Ann Winters; Mary T. Stitt, wife of Judge James Stitt; a Mrs. Killian; and a Mrs. Nicholson, Those five, who are remembered by the Church as its “Mothers of Israel,” were inspired by the preaching of Methodist circuit rider the Rev. James Armstrong to form a Methodist class which soon became the First Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1826, the Montgomery County Commissioners agreed to convey Lot 160 of the original plat of the Town of Crawfordsville, located at the northwest corner of Wabash Avenue and Water Street, to the Church for construction of a church building. In 1829, a 40 by 40-foot frame church was erected, the first of four successive Methodist houses of worship to be constructed on Lot 160. Members now attending Sunday services sit where their Methodist forbears first sat in 1829.
The Church’s ongoing ministries and outreach to the community include the Wesley Thrift Shop, located at 315 W. Market St., which was started by nine women members in 1959 to sell used clothing, toys, household items, books and jewelry on consignment at affordable prices, with the Shop retaining 30 percent of the proceeds. The profits from the Shop are returned to the community through donations to area church and service organizations.
The Montgomery County FISH began in 1969 under the leadership of the Rev. Frank Little, then pastor of the Church. For more than 50 years, FISH has helped needy area residents through a food pantry, clothing closet and linen closet. From FISH’s start until 2019, the Church hosted the FISH food pantry.
Since 1969, the Church has broadcast its Sunday worship services to people who are homebound, in hospitals or nursing facilities, or otherwise unable to attend in person. The Sunday broadcasts began with the generous assistance of former member Myron Pattison, who started Crawfordsville Community Cable Corporation. They are now livestreamed on Facebook and the Church’s website, www.cvfumc.org.
From 1988 through 2018, the Church sponsored week-long summer mission work trips to the sea islands of South Carolina, in connection with a program to rehabilitate the homes of impoverished residents there. Teams of Church members and other volunteers provided the labor and tools, while the cost of building materials was paid from Church endowment funds.
In 1994, the Church began a half-day preschool program called Rainbows & Rhymes. Beginning in 2019, Rainbows & Rhymes was expanded to provide full-day year-round preschool and daycare for up to 56 children. A scholarship fund established by the Church provides tuition assistance to families in need.
First United Methodist Church celebrates its 200 years of Christian witness and outreach in Crawfordsville, and looks forward to continuing to do so in the future.