#35. Methodist Church

In 1873, Rev. John Rickards and Rev. B. F. Creary, circuit ministers, came to Del Norte and started a congregation at the unfinished courthouse/town hall.  By 1874, Rev. Rickards was holding services at the home of Mrs. Musick in West Del Norte.  The ladies of the congregation raised money to build a small log cabin church near the cliff, but the money ran out before the roof could be put in place.  Ezra T. Elliott raised the money to complete the roof by calling upon the saloonkeepers and the gamblers of town.  Services were held here in May of 1874.

By 1876 a new church was being talked about.  This stone church was started with the cornerstone ceremonies on March 11, 1876.  However, with a dwindling congregation and debt mounting, the church again had no roof over the stone walls.

In September of 1877, Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell and Susan B. Anthony all spoke in the Methodist Church during the suffrage campaign in Colorado.  Stone and Blackwell were here on September 11 and Anthony was here on September 18, 1877.

The Lawrence, Kansas congregation and the new minister’s wife, who sold a dress for $48, got the church finished and the church debt paid.  The church continued to grow, but by 1969-70 the Methodists and the Presbyterians combined into the Pioneer United Church, which uses the Presbyterian Church.

The church became home to the Assembly of God congregation and is now the New Life Fellowship Church.  The Fellowship Hall addition is a modern building.