First United Methodist Church serves community for more than 120 years

SALT LAKE CITY — Months after celebrating its 120th anniversary in Salt Lake City, the First United Methodist Church continues to serve the community by providing both spiritual and physical relief.

Beginning in 1870 with an initial congregation of just 40 attendees, the First United Methodist Church continued to grow over the next 30 years. Members of the Methodist faith served their community, focusing on both education and social work.

The congregation built its first church on 300 South between Main Street and State Street in Salt Lake City, but eventually purchased a lot on the corner of 200 South and 200 East and dedicated their new building on May 27, 1906.

A congregant who attended faithfully in the new building for years was Berta Alva Hess Penney, the first wife of retail giant James Cash Penney, founder of the JCPenney company. Berta was a consecrated member of the church who brought her family to worship there weekly.

In 1910, Berta underwent a tonsillectomy in an attempt to improve her symptoms of asthma. Unfortunately, she caught pneumonia while recovering from her surgery and died three days later.

J.C. Penney, to preserve his wife's memory, donated enough funds to cover the rest of the building's debt and requested that a plaque be installed honoring her and her faith.

Renovations over the years

The building's main sanctuary underwent multiple significant changes during its first century of use.

Behind the main stage where the pastor teaches their flock, a large pipe organ stands proudly, decorated with stenciled designs connected to Christianity. The organ was installed in 1906, making it one of Salt Lake City's oldest organs.

The organ pipes were later painted over during subsequent renovations, but in 2008, the organist pushed to restore the pipes to their original design, a process that took six months

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think that we would ever be able to return everything back to what they originally were," said Mike Green, historian and events coordinator for the First United Methodist Church. "It was a godsend."

The pews and the stained glass windows are all original to the building, though repairs strengthened the metal holding the stained glass windows together after exposure to the elements began to weaken it.

On the exterior, the bricks were painted white while the stone borders around the windows were painted a darker color. However, Green noticed that the paint was flaking off, revealing the original colors of the brick and stone.

A historical society called Preservation Utah requested that the First United Methodist Church either repaint the bricks white or return them to the original color. The church decided to return to the original color, which was completed in 2024, just in time for its 120th anniversary of the building on May 27, 2026.

"I'm grateful to be with a congregation who does have a very careful care for remembering our past and our history," Green said. "But at the same time, who is so welcoming and open-minded to the future and to new ideas."

Legacy of service

The First United Methodist Church has stretched back to its roots, restoring the building to its original design, color and grandeur. Even as it stretches back, it reaches forward to help the city with some of its current challenges.

During the summer, the church opens its doors to provide a "cooling zone" for those who need a break from the Utah heat. In the winter, the church allows people to enter its doors during the cold nights to avoid hypothermia, frostbite and even death.

Pastor Kelsie Parrish, who graduated from seminary and became the church's pastor in 2025, said the church is gearing up for its fifth year hosting unhoused individuals during the coldest winter nights.

She said that previous leaders of the church "got a call one day that people were dying on the streets because it was dangerously cold. 'Would you all be willing to open up your building?' And they said, 'Yep,'" Parrish said. "That same night, that very night, they had like 80 people sleeping here."

She said she is grateful to be with a church community that has "always been about offering grace to all people."

"I think our tradition, like our denomination and also our church, have always been about and will continue to be about being for all of God's people," Parrish said.

Serving and being served

The First United Methodist Church continues to maintain good relations with other churches across Salt Lake City. Parrish said she was "really grateful" to see the partnership that existed between the congregations when she first came to Utah.

Parrish is a part of an ecumenical clergy group that meets together to serve the people of the city. She works with the leadership of St. Mark's Episcopal Church to host movie nights for the unhoused community, and helps coordinate the Procession of the Cross with other churches on Good Friday.

She said that working with other Protestant churches and both the Catholic Church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was "really beautiful to be a part of."

She said it "really feels like we are a faith community, not just like this local church."

Local organizations and churches helped to fund the renovation and restoration projects undertaken by the First United Methodist Church to return the building to its original splendor. A plaque at the back of the sanctuary lists the donors, just as J. C. Penney's plaque does.

The historical building continues to be a place of service, both spiritually and physically. Parrish said it was "exciting" to see the congregation slowly growing while also finding more ways to share the historic space with the community.

"Our future will continue to be projects of preservation as well as sharing," she said.

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