History

From the archives of the Rosewood United Methodist Church, our neighbors to the west:

Rosewood United Methodist Church was first organized through prayers on September 18, 1904, by nine Methodists who met in the home of Mr. & Mrs. Lewis Huff, 523 N. Virgil Avenue. The others were C. W. Harrison, Edith L. Newman, Mrs. L. A. Newman, A. E. Newman, E. M. Reynolds and Mrs. Elizabeth Seinner. On October 29, 1904 the first Quarterly Conference was held in a “tent church” on the corner of Melrose and Westmoreland Avenues purchased by the newly organized “City Missionary Society.” Within a month over eighty adults and children were in regular attendance. In 1905, a small frame church was completed to replace the “tent church” and was given the name of “The Pitner Methodist Episcopal Church” honoring Rev. J. Pitner who had aided the group by his personal ministry on Sunday afternoons and in many other ways.

In 1911 with rapidly increasing growth, plans were laid to build a larger church on the corner of Melrose Ave. and Berendo Street which was called Verbena Drive at that time. The new building was occupied in 1913 and known as the “Melrose Methodist Episcopal Church.” In 1925 the Melrose Avenue Church was sold and a new church was built at the corner of Rosewood Avenue and North New Hampshire Avenue. When the building was completed with a beautiful rose window, it was not hard to find a new name, and from now on it became “Rosewood United Methodist Episcopal Church”...