St. Paul's United Methodist Church has a history dating back to the 19th Century. Three small Methodist Episcopal churches then served the area known as the West Side of St. Paul, Minnesota.
The first recorded effort to establish Methodism on the West Side was made by the Reverend Sias Bolles in 1856. Floods swept away the beginnings of the mission the next year. In 1869 Robert Withey started a Sunday School composed of people of different denominations. It was decided to make this a Methodist Episcopal school since the Methodists were the only ones who "could promise regular preaching without much pay." The Clinton Avenue Church was the result. The frame building was later donated and moved to become the home of King Street Church. A larger, "substantial and well-appointed church" was built in 1888 but brought debt and a struggle with finances.
The West Side (or Riverview) German Methodist Church was begun by a group of German immigrants who met in a bakeshop. Ministers from other congregations helped with services until the first pastor was assigned in 1884. In 1903 the church finished paying off its debt by means of the January "thank you" offerings, and planned to build a proper parsonage.
The third West Side Methodist Church began as first a small chapel and then a small church about 1882. The Reverend David Morgan was pastor at the Clinton Church and was instrumental in beginning the King Street Church.
In 1874 the West Side voted to become a part of the City of St. Paul. One of the reasons for the vote was to avoid paying the toll charged for crossing the Wabasha Street Bridge! The community was growing rapidly and space at the King Street church was crowded Building plans were being considered when a merger was proposed. The merger was accepted in 1919 and the King Street building was sold with the proviso that the congregation could occupy it until the new church was built.
In 1919 two lots on George and Waseca and three lots on Robie and Waseca streets were purchased and building plans begun. On February 2, 1921 the first service of the consolidated church was held in the basement of the new building.
The cornerstone was laid on February 15, 1921 and on August 8, 1922, Saint Paul's Methodist Church was officially dedicated.
In January 1985, the Minnesota Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church indicated an interest in purchasing Saint Paul's building and parsonage for the Hmong Methodist Community. In June the congregation voted in favor of selling the George Street property to the Hmong Community Methodist Church. Beginning in December, the Hmong congregation was welcomed to Saint Paul's and provided the use of the building until Saint Paul's church was ready to move. Early in 1986 property was purchased in Mendota Heights and a ground-breaking ceremony took place on April 20.
The congregation sold the George Street complex to the Minnesota Annual Conference and the Hmong Methodist Community on December 15, one year to the day after the two congregations began sharing the original church. The first worship service in the Mendota Heights church was held on December 21, 1986.
Pipe Organ
The pipe organ which accompanies our Sunday worship was built in 1909 by the Estey Organ Company of Brattleboro, Vermont, as Estey Opus #656 Model C2. The company described it then as “a small two manual instrument containing five stops in Great, five in the Swell and one in the Pedal” divisions, with 628 pipes. It replaced an 1893 Wilcox and White organ at the Clinton Avenue Methodist Church and was installed on April 9, 1909, in time for Easter services. The Rev. G. L. Powell secured a grant of $1100 from Andrew Carnegie towards the total cost of $2200, with the remaining funds raised by the congregation.
In November 1919 the organ was disassembled and reinstalled in the King Street Methodist Church for use while the congregation occupied this building. A little over a year later the organ was again moved, to the new St. Paul’s Methodist Church. In 1953 a new two-manual console was purchased at a cost of $1900, and new Estey parts were installed in the organ. According to the December 1953, Epistle, “Any working part in the organ mechanism which moves at all has been replaced. About all of the old organ that remains are the pipes.”
In 1978 the organ was enlarged by combining the Great and Swell Divisions to form an enclosed Swell Division and adding an exposed Great Division. The number of pipes was increased to 1068 in 14 stops, 17 ranks. After yet another move in 1986, it is this organ that we now enjoy at St. Paul’s in Mendota Heights.
Our Sanctuary
The beautiful circular stained glass window in our sanctuary depicts Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. The window was originally installed in the Clinton Avenue church, moved to the King Street church, and given to St. Paul’s on George Street when the three churches merged in 1919. The window was moved to the Mendota Heights location in 1986.
The old pew at the rear of the sanctuary is from the German or Riverview church, one of the three Methodist churches that merged to form St. Paul’s.
The banners in the sanctuary celebrating the seasons of the church year.
The Eternal Flame and the ornamental ironwork Advent Wreath were crafted by Fred Homan as a memorial to his mother, and were brought from the church on George Street to the Mendota Heights location.
Our hymnals were dedicated on December 3, 1989, in memory and honor of many family members and friends of the congregation.
As a welcome to members and visitors as they enter the church building, the Peace Pole reminds us in four languages: “May peace prevail on earth.”