Central United Methodist Church - Lansing, MI
N 42° 44.084 W 084° 33.246
16T E 700221 N 4734259
Central Methodist Episcopal Church, now called Central United Methodist Church is located at 215 North Capitol Avenue in Lansing, Michigan. It is listed on the NRHP and has a carillon.
Waymark Code: WM161K9
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 04/14/2022
Views: 2
From the State of Michigan historical marker in front of the church:
br>
The first recorded Methodist meeting in Lansing was held in 1845 when the Reverend Lewis Coburn preached in the log cabin of Joab Page of North Lansing. In 1850 a Methodist class (congregation) was formed in what is now central Lansing. Its first leader was the Reverend Resin Sapp, chaplain of the Michigan legislature. Services were held at Representative Hall in the old state capitol. The same year, the state deeded land at the corner of Washington Avenue and Ottawa Street to the First Methodist Episcopal Church under Public Act No. 231 of 1848. That land was subsequently turned over to the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, which built its first building in 1863. The present Romanesque style edifice was erected in 1888-1889 and is perhaps the only church designed by Elijah E. Myers, architect of the State Capitol.
Central Methodist Episcopal Church (Lansing, Michigan) - The Central Methodist Episcopal Church is a low, massive, Richardsonian Romanesque structure built from dark red Ionia sandstone. The church measures one hundred fifty feet long by eighty-six feet wide. The main elevation is a broad facade with an eighty-five-foot high square tower located at one corner and a shorter half-round tower located at the other. Inside the church is a broad, open lobby with two U-shaped staircases leading to a second-floor lobby. A broad entryway leads to the sanctuary, which is a wide, low room containing a rear gallery and pews set in concentric rows around a low pulpit. The ceiling is supported by open timber trusses. All the trim is of red oak.
Also on the property is a Temple House, which is a utilitarian, three-story, brick structure faced with stonework which echoing that of the church. The Temple House contains the church offices, a two-story auditorium, Sunday school classrooms, and a gymnasium.