{"id":380754,"date":"2026-08-25T15:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T15:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/380754\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T15:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T15:44:07","slug":"historically-st-pete-how-first-united-methodist-church-became-a-downtown-st-pete-landmark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/380754\/","title":{"rendered":"Historically St. Pete: How First United Methodist Church became a downtown St. Pete landmark"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">In June 1888, the same month that the \u201cMattie\u201d chugged down a narrow-gauge Orange Belt Railway and into the lower Pinellas Peninsula, a small group of Methodists gathered in various homes for church services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">St. Petersburg didn\u2019t yet exist, and the hundred or so pioneering residents of this sun-kissed, rattlesnake-infested, orange-grove-filled land took it upon themselves to worship as best they could.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The following year, in 1889, when the Detroit Hotel and Railroad Pier opened, St. Petersburg saw signs of growth. A pastor was appointed, and First United Methodist was born. Two years later, in 1891, the congregation opened its first church on Central Avenue and 7th Street at a cost of $1,100.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The city\u2019s growth continued, as did First United Methodist\u2019s congregation. In 1901, the church structure was physically moved to the corner of 2nd Avenue North and Third Street, at what is now 212 3rd Street North. A new brick church was constructed in 1905. By 1910, the city boasted a population of 1,575 residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In June 1888, the same month that the \u201cMattie\u201d chugged down a narrow-gauge Orange Belt Railway and into&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-380754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}