The 125-year-old MOnte Vista Methodist Church

MONTE VISTA — The Monte Vista Methodist Church will celebrate its 125th anniversary of service to the community on Sunday, Aug. 2.

The public is invited to join the congregation for a commemorative worship service at 10 a.m. followed by a dinner and a special service of music.

When the town of Henry was formed, the first church was part of the community and the first sermon was preached in 1884.

Henry became Monte Vista in 1885 and the first stone chapel of the church was dedicated in 1892.

The building sits on the same site as the original 1886 First Methodist Episcopal Church, which was destroyed by a fire in 1922. The current structure was dedicated on March 16, 1924.

Both the church building at 215 Washington Street and the parsonage next door are listed on the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties and the National Register of Historic Places.

Construction began in 1922 on the church, which is within a predominately residential area that includes several other older churches, the 1888 St.

Stephen Episcopal Church, the 1898 First Presbyterian Church, and the 1909 First Christian Church, along with the 1932 Post Office.

The church occupies four city lots landscaped with trees, grass, bushes, flowers, a rock garden and two church signs. An alley on the west includes a small adjacent parking area. The associated 1904 parsonage sits south of the church.

The building retains its original appearance with the exception of an ADA ramp at the facade corner and an addition that covers the basement entry on the north side.

Its walls are purple tapestry brick laid in a running bond, an unusual design created by Charles J. Anderson of Alamosa.

Original paneling of wainscot oak is used as a chancel rail, a choir screen, and forms a backdrop for the chancel. Above the wainscot behind the chancel platform are 57 imitation organ pipes. The working pipes for the original Estey two-manual pipe organ, are in a separate room behind the chancel area.

An oak console pipe organ is located in front of the choir area. Behind the choir area, a door leads to two offices, a hallway and stairways that lead to the basement and to the second story.

The majority of the windows are wood frame, 1/1 double hung sash with tooled (striated) concrete sills.

Fifty-four contain original stained glass, nineteen of these are on the east facade.

The three large stained glass windows on the south side and one on the north side have a religious motif.

The church received an $88,000 grant in January 2005 from the State Historical Fund, a program of the Colorado Historical Society, to help restore the interior/exterior and perform electrical restoration of the building structure. Matching funds from the congregation of $31,100 brought the total to $119,100. The project was completed in September 2008.

For more information or dinner reservations, contact the church office at 852-2853.



For the complete article see the 07-29-2009 issue.

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