Methodist services began in 1872 at the home of Isaac P. Poinier on the northwest corner of Cossitt Avenue and Fifth Avenue (La Grange Road).  Reverend W. C. Dandy from Chicago organized a Methodist Society, which became the charge of a traveling preacher Reverend A. G. Parish.

In 1874, services moved to the Cossitt School on the southwest corner of Cossitt and Madison Avenues. In this two-story frame structure Poinier acted as Sunday school teacher, organist and janitor.  He often carrying coal from his own house to heat the building.

Beginning in 1875 Reverend William H. Holmes served as first resident pastor, beginning. The Ladies Aid Society worked tirelessly -- recruiting members and serving dinners to raise money for church construction.  Franklin Cossitt donated land at the southeast corner of Cossitt and Fifth Avenues.  Stone was purchased by the Society purchased.  Contractors prepared to erect a building on the site.  However, the project had to be abandoned when Poinier and several other influential leaders moved away.  The Methodists then joined members of other denominations who worshipped at the railroad depot.  The station agent, a Baptist preacher named Reverend Metcalf, held Sunday services.

Reverend Luke Hitchcock reorganized the Society in 1884, and Reverend W. B. Frazelle held services in the hall over Craigmile's general store at Fifth and Calendar for a while.  Later the meeting place was changed to a skating rink on the west side of Fifth Avenue between Burlington and Calendar Avenues. 

The year 1886 saw the Society elect a board of trustees and, on July 21, take out incorporation papers for The First Methodist Episcopal Church of La Grange. Three days after incorporation, the trustees purchased the two-story frame schoolhouse on Cossitt and Madison Avenues where services had been held 12 years earlier. The Methodists paid $2,000 for the building and property, and they remodeled the school "to form an acceptable place of worship".

The church quickly outgrew its facilities, and a new building and parsonage were completed in 1895.

The Church erected in 1895.  Photograph from La Grange Centennial History 1879-1979

During the pastorate of Reverend Grover Clark, from 1901 to 1906, the church expanded again. Fund-raising efforts finally erased all debts in 1905, and church records note that the members burned the mortgage with appropriate ceremonies on June 18.

Reverend Allison F. Clark oversaw another addition to the church during his pastorate from 1914 to 1917.

In 1930, the Society purchased a frame house and property at the southeast corner of Cossitt and Ashland Avenues adjoining the original grounds. It provided a building for Sunday school and a space for a larger church.

Sanctuary on the right.  Education building on the left.  Photograph from La Grange Centennial History 1879-1979

This new house of worship was constructed, then consecrated in 1952.

Between the time the property was purchased and the church was built. the Society hired a director of religious education and sent missionaries to East Africa, Chile, China, India, Japan and Korea.

The church celebrated its 70^th anniversary on May 1, 1942.  

In 1954, when the average Sunday attendance exceeded 700, a new parsonage was purchased at 345 South Park Road. Expansion continued, and nine years later, the Society completed an education building at a cost of $850,000.

In 1977, church membership totaled 1,406.

Several sources were used in the compilation of these entries including but not limited to:

• Images of America -- La Grange and La Grange Park, Illinois by RoseAnna and Robert Mueller, Arcadia Publishing
• La Grange Centennial History 1879-1979, William J Cromie, Editor, La Grange Area Historical Society, 1979

Last Modified:  08/04/2002