City: Albuquerque, NM

Category: Relocation

Telephone: (505) 243-5646

Address: 314 Lead Avenue SW

Description: The Reverend N. Hewitt Gale organized the First Methodist Episcopal Church in 1880, and by the following year a small adobe chapel had been constructed on the site of the current church (earlier Methodist services were conducted in an Old Town saloon). That building was replaced in 1905 by the current stone church, and subsequent additions have included the large cruciform sanctuary added in 1955. Church windows are said to have been designed by a student of Louis Tiffany. First United Methodist Church has grown with its congregation to now occupy much of a city block. The church holds two services on a Sunday morning—a contemporary service followed by a traditional one. The church’s Wesley Kids preschool and childcare program operates five days a week, enrolling children from six weeks to age five.