1967 City Methodist Church Directory

1967 City United Methodist Church Directory
575 Washington Street
Gary, Indiana 46402

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Now, let's see if I have this straight. My pastor's son-in-law's brother-in-law recently became a member of the church. After a series of months, he (Pastor) discovered that he (Jeff) attended City Methodist when he was a child, and his grandmother still had several pieces of ephemera from the time. Jeff borrowed a packet of booklets from her and they wound up in my possession for a few weeks. I have finally gotten around to scanning some of the contents and getting them posted here. So I want to thank Mark (my pastor), Jason (his son-in-law), Jeff (his brother-in-law), and Jeff's grandmother for sharing this information. As always, my interest in this old church is active, and I would welcome any other items I could post here for others with a history with or an interest in City Methodist Church. Tom (January, 2004)

I believe this is from 1967 based on the handwritten note at the top. There are several pages of photos of church members and friends in the book which I did not scan. Also, there are several pages of names and addresses. I have returned the directory, so I can't look up or scan any more. Text from the "How Our Church Began" page is re-produced at the bottom in text form. There are also a couple "bonus" images toward the bottom of the page.

Cover
Pictured Above

Our Ministers
Pictured on this page:
Reuben H. Mueller, Bishop
Dr. Eugene R. Balsley, District Supt.
Dr. S. Walton Cole, Pastor
Rev. Stewart N. McCord, Associate Minister
Rev. James A. Russell, Inner-City Minister

How Our Church Began
On this page: Brief Church History
Church under construction (1925)

Music in Worship
On this page: Organ
Organist Choir Master, Dwight Davis, F.A.G.O., CHM.
Adult Choir
A Youth Choir
Choir members from one family

Some of our Facilities
On this page: At Worship
Coming to Worship
Seaman Hall
Charles Bales, At Sound Controls
Nursery

A Day at City Church
On this page: Lyn Patton, Secretary
Patricia Ball, Secretary
Wesleyan Service Guild Tea
Immunization Clinic, City United Methodist Church, Community Property
Pastoral Counseling, Calumet Counseling Center

Our Educational Program
On this page: Senior High Class
Church School Supt.
An Adult Class
A Kindergarten Class
A Primary Class

An Active Church
On this page: Starting an Official Church Board Meeting
W.S.C.S. Officers
Pastor Baptizing an Infant
Ushers
Senior Fellowship Group

An Active Church
On this Page: Preparing for Bible Land Tour
Cooking Class for Spanish Girls
Hattie Russell, Housekeeper
Arthur Ware, Custodian
Jim Duncan, Custodian

Church Activities
On this page: Acolytes
An adult class
Gymnasium
Mens Club Officers

No Title
On this page: Pastor in his study
Office at work
Church altar
Schedule of Church Activities

BONUS

These next two images were in the packet of materials from Jeff's grandmother, but not part of the directory.
They are:
Cover of Christmas Service Greeting Card
and
Postcard of City Methodist Church (appears to be from the 1960s)

The development of Gary started in the early 1900's. During October 1906, the early settlers organized the first Methodist Church of Gary which later became known as City Methodist Church. Our church was the first Protestant church to be organized in Gary. At first the church services were held in Odd Fellows Hall at 6th and Broadway. As the membership grew, it was necessary to move to other locations and finally a church was built at 7th and Adams.

As the years passed and the membership continued to grow, Dr. William Seaman, pastor of City Methodist Church, saw the need for larger quarters. An opportunity presented itself at the 1919 Methodist Centenary, held in New York, where Dr. Ralph Diffendorfer, secretary to the Centenary Movement, interested Judge Gary of the U. S. Steel Corporation to help build our present church. The U. S. Steel Corporation took an active interest in building the church and gave 50% of the building cost of $650,000.

Due to rising prices, the $650,000 was not sufficient to build the building as originally planned with the result that reductions had to be made here and there. The lack of complete stained glass windows throughout the sanctuary is an example of some of the economies put into practice. While some mistakes are always expected in building, perhaps the most noticeable one is the mammoth pillars in the pew lines in the sanctuary. This error was due to the plot of the land on which the church is built being smaller than originally thought. This necessitated making the church smaller than originally planned.

The corner stone of the church was laid in 1925 by our pastor, Dr. Seaman. The building is constructed of Indiana Bedford Limestone and consists of a commercial wing; sanctuary seating 950 people including the choirs; Seaman Hall seats 997 people; Fellowship Room seats 200; numerous Church School rooms; large dining room and kitchen; a gymnasium; and a Mission Room filled with articles from foreign lands.

In the sanctuary, our four manual Skinner organ is one of the outstanding organs in Indiana. The fine hand-carved work above the altar was done by a brother of Anton Lang who played the part of Christus in the Passion Play in Europe for years. Judge Gary personally paid for the fine wood work. It was Dr. Seaman's wish that his body be creamated after death and his ashes placed in the sanctuary. His wishes were fulfilled and you may find an engraved copper plate marking the spot in the chancel.

City Methodist is discussed in detail in "The Protestant Experience in Gary, Indiana: 1906-1975" by James Lewis.
Other Gary history resources are also available through Amazon.

New project: American Life Histories, Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940
(This will be an ongoing project with entries added frequently.)