Church at 10:00am, children and adult Sunday School at 11:15am. Wesley United Methodist
Church is a church with many
roots. The original Wesley
root began on September 7,
1890, when Bessemer Methodist
Episcopal Church was
organized in a vacant store on
Spruce Street. In December
1890, the congregation
occupied a new building at the
corner of Mesa and Pine. In 1893 the name was
changed to Pine Stre
et Methodist
Episcopal Church. The
congregation provided
ministry to immigrants moving
to the Bessemer area to work
in the steel mill. An Italian
mission was organized, and a
Japanese mission was established
that later became a
Japanese language church. In 1902, the Pine Street
congregation built a larger
church at Northern and Orman
and renamed themselves the
Northern Avenue Methodist
Episcopal Church. Due to a
declining need for Japanese
language services, in 1950 the
Japanese congregation merged
back into Northern Avenue. In 1959, the Northern
Avenue building was condemned. Since the community
of Pueblo was expanding
westward, the congregation
purchased land at 85 Stanford
Avenue. In September 1960,
the congregation held its first
service in the new building
known as Wesley Methodist
Church. The name Wesley
United Methodist Church came
in 1968 when the Methodist
denomination merged with the
Evangelical United Brethren. Another root of Wesley
came from Trinity UMC. Trinity UMC began on June 2,
1871, when a group of Southern
Methodists from Georgia
decided to organize a church
on the St. Charles Mesa. Later
they worshiped in the Mesa
Junction neighborhood and, in
1902, built a church at Broadway
and Pitkin. In those days, they were
known as First Methodist
Episcopal Church, South. Following the unification of
the three branches of Methodism
in 1939, their name was
changed to Trinity Methodist
Church. In 1955, the congregation
sold its building (now
known as the George
McCarthy Historic Chapel)
and relocated to Lucas and
Alma. Due to declining
membership, Trinity sold its
building to another denomination
and merged with
Wesley on July 1, 1994. A third root of Wesley had
its origins in Faith UMC, a
nearby congregation that was
making plans to move to
Pueblo West. About 20
members who chose not to
make that significant move
came to Wesley in September
2001. They brought with them
their Evangelical United
Brethren heritage, further
Our History
diversifying the Wesley mix. The most recent root comes
from St. Paul UMC, which
merged into Wesley on May
16, 2007, bringing 133
members and considerable
financial assets. Paul UMC
had begun as Mesa Methodist
Church in 1885, and became
known as St. Paul when it
inhabited its Colorado and
Routt building in 1903. The
congregation remodeled its
building several times to
accommodate their growing
membership. Paul’s
diversity was increased in
1965, when the African
heritage Scott Methodist
Church merged with them. Paul’s ministry reached
as many as 1700 members in
the 1960s, when they were the
largest Methodist church in
Pueblo. Since then, however,
the congregation suffered
significant decline, and the
large worship center and its
upkeep had become financially
untenable. The St. Paul
congregation decided to sell its
building at 107 E. Routt to the
Pueblo Community Health
Center. Many of St. Paul’s
members chose to go First
UMC and other churches. But
the majority made the transition
to Wesley, and Wesley
has received them with open
arms.
