The General Commission on Archives and History submitted a petition to General Conference 2020 to designate five United Methodist-related historic sites as official Heritage Landmarks. The petition passed on consent calendar on April 30, 2024.
The new Heritage Landmarks are Helenor M. Alter Davisson's grave site at Barkley Township, Indiana; Western Union, now Westmar College campus in Le Mars, Iowa; Lakeside Chautauqua Cluster, Lakeside, Ohio; Christ United Methodist Church, Honolulu, Hawaii; and Wolcott United Methodist Church, Wolcott, Vermont.
Learn about each site below:
Historic Site 487 Helenor M. Alter Davisson Grave Site, Barkley Twp., IN
Heritage Landmark application for The Helenor M. Alter Davisson Cluster Sites near Rensselaer, Ind.
Synopsis from Rev. Chris Shoemaker:
“On August 24, 1866, Helenor Alter Davisson became American Methodism’s first female ordinand. Despite an early life of hardship and loss, Helenor answered a call from God that many believed she couldn’t have received. Her perseverance and faithfulness began the path to the full inclusion of women in American Methodism. Included in the Landmark Cluster are Helenor’s grave; her father’s home (also her ordination site) and grave; and two former Methodist Protestant churches—one founded by a parishioner of Helenor’s, and the other from the circuit Helenor once served.”
Historic Site 543 Western Union, now Westmar College Campus, Le Mars, IA
Heritage Landmark application for Western Union/Westmar College Campus, Le Mars, Iowa
Synopsis gleaned from https://www.westmarcollege.org/History.html
Established in the spring of 1887, the Northwestern Normal School and Business College held its first classes in an old German Methodist Church located south of Le Mars, IA. Eventually the Le Mars Normal School Association proposed to transfer the school to the United Evangelical Church which later led to the organization and incorporation of the Western Union College of the United Evangelical Church. Western Union College was co-educational from the beginning. A devotional service was conducted each morning in the chapel. In 1948 the name was changed to Westmar College. The Westmar College merger with York College of Nebraska in 1954 resulted in Westmar College being the only college west of the Mississippi River affiliated with what had now become the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB). In 1968 the EUB Church merged with the Methodist Church to become The United Methodist Church. After continuing financial struggles, its final iteration, Westmar University, closed on November 21, 1997.
Historic Site 544 Lakeside Chautauqua Cluster, Lakeside, OH
Heritage Landmark application for Lakeside Chautauqua Cluster, Lakeside, OH
Synopsis from https://lakesideohio.com/visiting-lakeside/history/
In August 1873, Lakeside’s first public event began as an old-fashioned campmeeting with rousing hymn-sings and preachings. In 1874, the Chautauqua Movement was begun by Methodist inventer and philanthropist, Lewis Miller and minister (later Bishop) John Heyl Vincent, in Chautauqua, NY as a way to emphasize Sunday School training but then expanded into a summertime center for adult education and cultural enrichment---both religious and secular. Lakeside held its first Sunday School trainings in 1877 and it blossomed into a wildly popular Chautauqua location starting in the 1890s. One of the few remaining Chautauqua sites today, those same four founding elements---religion, education, cultural arts and recreation opportunities---remain in place at Lakeside Chautauqua today.
Historic Site 540 Christ UM Church, Honolulu, Hawaii
Heritage Landmark application for Christ UM Church, Honolulu, Hawaii
Synopsis from 2018 Cal-Pac Resolution 180-5
In 1903, a large group of Koreans arrived in Honolulu, recruited by the Sugar Planter Association and that same year a Korean Methodist Mission was created to serve Christian workers. The mission was approved as a church on April 20, 1905 and became the Honolulu Korean Methodist Church. Now the congregants meet as Christ United Methodist Church, and it has 1,000+ members with several services each Sunday. It marks the first Korean Methodist Church established in the United States and its territories and also the first Korean Methodist Church outside of Korea.
Historic Site 439 Wolcott United Methodist Church, Wolcott, Vermont
Heritage Landmark application for Wolcott UM Church, Wolcott, VT
Synopsis from Rev. Pat Thompson
“In 1855, George S. Brown, the first Black pastor in the Troy Annual Conference, organized a Methodist Society in the town of Wolcott, Vermont and supervised the construction of their church building in 1856 (as far as can be determined) the only white United Methodist Church to have been organized and built by an African American.”
The United Methodist Church previously had given this distinction to 49 sacred sites. With the adoption of the new sites, the total of Heritage Landmarks is 54. A Heritage Landmark is a location specifically related to significant events, developments, or personalities in the history of The United Methodist Church.