About Us
History
The First United Methodist Church of Montclair started as a schoolhouse in 1827 in West Bloomfield (later called Montclair). James Wilde, who came from England with his family to take over the Crane Mills, erected the school nearby for the mills workers' children near the corner of Glenridge Ave. and Bay Street. The children were given instruction in reading and writing and also the Bible and catechism at two sessions on Sundays. This was the forerunner of the Methodist Episcopal Society of West Bloomfield, the name later being changed to the First Methodist Episcopal Society of Montclair.
In February 1828, with the election of the first board of trustees, the society was constituted. It held its services for more than eight years in the schoolhouse but continued as a circuit during most of that period. Mr. James Wilde donated a lot on Bloomfield Avenue, east of the Erie-Lackawanna station where a church and parsonage were built. The church was completed in November 1836; becoming the first church actually built in Montclair. The church became too small for its growing congregation and in 1879 moved to its present location. The dedication took place on December 14, 1879. The old church edifice was purchased by a "Negro" congregation in 1880 and became St. Mark's Methodist Church, the first church for "Negro" residents of Montclair.
With rapid growth of Montclair, local Methodism at the turn of the century began to plan for larger quarters. Workers began to build the stone structure in 1902. The cornerstone was laid on June 7, 1902, and the new building was finished one year later. The dedication was on October 23, 1903.
In 1939 when the Methodist Episcopal and the Methodist Protestant churches were reunited, the church became The First Methodist Church of Montclair. Then in 1968 upon the unification of the Methodist Church and the unification of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, it became the First United Methodist Church of Montclair.
Today, FUMC is home to a very diverse congregation with members from all continents working hard at living God's call for peace and unity as true disciples, and at making disciples of Jesus Christ.
