First United Methodist Church

First United Methodist Church of Pensacola
Denomination	Methodist
Organized	December 7, 1821
Senior Minister	Rev. Dr. Wesley H. Wachob
Location	6 East Wright Street
Previous locations	NE corner Tarragona and Intendencia Streets NW corner Palafox and Garden Streets
Website	www.pensacolafirstchurch.com
<googlemap version="0.9" lat="30.417221" lon="-87.215652" zoom="16" width="300" height="250"> 30.417032, -87.215583 First Methodist Church </googlemap>

The First United Methodist Church or First Methodist Church is a historic church in Pensacola, currently located at 6 East Wright Street. The church's current pastor is the Reverend Dr. Wesley H. Wachob.

History

The early church

Spain, a Catholic nation, controlled Florida prior to 1821, and did not permit open congregations of Protestantism. The transfer of Florida to the United States in 1821 opened the door for Protestant churches to establish a presence in Pensacola.

On December 7 of that year, the Mississippi Conference of the Methodist Church, in session at Washington, Mississippi, established a mission to Pensacola; the Reverend Dr. Alexander Talley was appointed as the mission's first pastor. Talley served for about a year before being relieved by Rev. Ashley Hewett, who in turn was succeeded by Rev. Dr. Henry P. Cook. Without a permanent home, church services were held in public buildings as well as in a theatre. The March 20, 1824 issue of the Pensacola Gazette mentions a service held at the courthouse.

Rev. Dr. Cook died of yellow fever in the fall of 1825, and was replaced by Rev. Dr. John R. Lambuth, but Rev. Lambuth's tenure did not last long, for the mission was transferred to the South Carolina Methodist Conference in 1826. It was during the service of the next pastor, Rev. Dr. Charles Hardy, that the South Carolina conference approved funds for construction of a permanent home for the church.

The first permanent home

The third building at the church's first site, which stood from 1870-1881.

On May 26, 1827, a lot on the northeast corner of Tarragona and Intendencia Streets was purchased, at which a permanent home for the church was built, with the first services held on June 22, 1828. Several months prior, on February 14, 1828, Rev. Isaac Boring had been appointed to take over the church from Rev. Hardy; Rev. Boring arrived in Pensacola on March 12 and sold his horse to Rev. Hardy for $100, so that Rev. Hardy would have transportation to his next destination.

Rev. Adam Wyrick took over in 1829; he wrote of Pensacola: "... a most terribly ... wicked place. Can see little evidence of good being accomplished." His successor, Rev. Dr. John W. Talley, was the last pastor sent by the South Carolina conference; the Pensacola-Escambia mission was again transferred in 1831, this time to the Georgia conference, who sent as pastor Rev. P. C. Shelman.

This first church suffered two fires. The first, in 1858, damaged but apparently did not destroy the building, and repairs were completed by the following year. The building was burnt to the ground in 1862 or 1864, but was rebuilt in 1870. In 1881 the property was sold and the church constructed a new facility on the northwest corner of Palafox and Garden Streets.

Second building

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The church's second home, at Palafox and Garden Streets

Construction began on the new church building, a three-story Romanesque Revival structure, in the fall of 1881. For the next two and a half years, the congregation was without a permanent home:

	While without a church we worshipped in the Baptist church until we moved into Pou's Hall ... We worshipped there two years or more, paying $25 per month rent. In the spring of 1884 we moved into the basement of [the new] church.
—Mary Lucia Richards, "Methodism in Pensacola"

The building was completed in 1890. In 1906, the property was sold, and the church building demolished, to make way for the San Carlos Hotel; and the church thereafter moved to its current site on Wright Street.

Current facilities

The sanctuary

Stephen Fagin Fulghum was chosen to build the new sanctuary; the cornerstone was laid on October 14, 1908. Services were held at Hannah Hall on Romana Street until the current building was completed in 1910. The first service was held at the completed church on October 30, 1910.

Between 1997-99, the sanctuary was renovated; its roof was replaced, its sandstone walls were cleaned with acid, and restoration work was carried out on its stained glass windows. Due to damage from Hurricane Ivan in 2004, the sanctuary roof was once again replaced in 2005.

In 2002, a new pipe organ was dedicated; the organ is "the largest and most comprehensive pipe organ in [the] area with 73 ranks of pipes and weighing some 50,000 pounds. This organ consists of a four-manual and pedal ebony console, a solid white oak case plus 4,153 pipes."

Other facilities

In 1951, an Education Building was constructed. In 1959, the Chapel of the Good Shepherd was built in memory of W. C. Mackey and E. R. Malone. "The Ark", a youth activity center, opened in 1980, followed by The Wright Place in 1983. A new administrative building was constructed between 1988-89, linking the sanctuary to The Wright Place. In the early 1990s, the church acquired property on Wright Street from a bankrupt car dealership and transformed it into a seventy-car parking lot for its members.

In 2000, the Church purchased two buildings across Wright Street, the former Fisher-Pou Funeral Home and a former Baptist Church, which became their Youth Ministry Center and Outreach Ministry Center, respectively. In 2004 as a result of the Church's "Build on the Dream" capital project, a new three-story lobby building was completed. The lobby has connections to the sanctuary, library, Henry Roberts Activity Center, Wright Place, and the Education Building.

In 2007, the Church purchased the adjacent Scottish Rite Masonic Center, which presently is home to ICON, a contemporary style service.

Missions

Several other area Methodist churches began as missions of First Methodist, including Gadsden Street United Methodist Church, Cokesbury United Methodist Church and St. Andrew United Methodist Church.

Church leaders

• Rev. Dr. Alexander Talley (1821-1822)
• Rev. Ashley Hewett (1823)
• Rev. Dr. Henry P. Cook (1824-1825)
• Rev. Dr. John R. Lambuth (1825-1826)
• Rev. Dr. Charles Hardy (1826-1828)
• Rev. Isaac Boring (1828)
• Rev. Adam Wyrick (1829)
• Rev. Dr. John W. Talley (1830)
• Rev. P. C. Shelman (1831)
• Rev. G. W. Collier (1832)
• Rev. Joseph B. Cottrell (1854-1855)
• Rev. Theophilus Moody (1857)
• Rev. David M. Hudson (1858, 1873-1874)
• Rev. W. K. Norton (1859-1860)
• Rev. Thomas A. Hopkins (1861)
• Rev. Anson West (1862)
• Rev. W. H. Carter (1866)
• Rev. J. A. Parker (1868)
• Rev. E. B. McClelland (1869)
• Rev. John A. Pace (1870-1872)
• Rev. Philip H. Lightfoot (1876-1878)
• Rev. C. B. DuBose (1879-1882)
• Rev. W. M. Cox (1888-1891)
• Rev. C. W. Gavin
• Rev. Dr. Henry Earle Roberts (retired June 2006)
• Rev. Dr. Wesley H. Wachob (Present)

Other images

• 

  Second building, circa 1897

References

• About First United Methodist Church
• King, M. Luther. "Church History of Santa Rosa County: Some Sketches of Methodism." Friends of Pace Library. Retrieved on 2008-12-19.