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A group of people
met as Methodists as early as March 1872 in the new town of Hutchinson,
Kansas. Records indicate that Capt. Frederick J. Griffith, a Civil
War Veteran and Methodist Circuit rider, probably preached the first sermon
to these Methodists on March 10, 1872.
Rev. Griffith, who holds the distinction of being the first to preach a sermon in Rice County, Kansas, rode horseback to Hutchinson to preach.
In 1874 the congregation decided to build their first church structure at the present location at 1st and Walnut. This was also the year of the Grasshopper Plague in Kansas. The pastor, John W. Fox, was so determined that the church building proceed that he continued the project even though the District Superintendent told him to stop. As a result thousands of grasshoppers were mixed into the concrete of the foundation.
February 14, 1895, marks the date the first Sunday service was held in the new building. It's this date that contributed to the congregation calling their location "St. Valentine's Corner."
Another circuit riding minister in the early days was Milton J. Morse. Both Griffith and Morse went on to political careers, serving in the Kansas Legislature.
A Rev. Mitchell who lived with his family in Topeka and traveled by
train to Hutchinson because he couldn't afford to move his family, went
on to serve in Congress. He died in 1881 while enroute between Halstead
and Newton. There is now a Mitchell Chapel named in his honor at
56th Ave. and Pennington Road.
| Index to Church Histories |
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