It began on Sunday, October 28, 1849. On that day Isaac Owen, our first pastor, preached his sermon under a large oak tree at 3rd and L streets. The following Sunday, November 4, more than 70 people attended worship in the new Baltimore Chapel, a prefabricated building that had been assembled on the southeast corner of 7th and L streets on a lot that had been donated by John Sutter. First United Methodist Church became the third protestant church in Sacramento, having been preceded only by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (August 16, 1849) and Pioneer Congregational Church (September 16, 1849).
In 2024 First United Methodist Church will celebrate the 175th Anniversary of our founding. Several events are being planned for the observation of this milestone year.
Sacramento First United Methodist Church was one of the first churches built in the Sacramento area in the mid-1800s when California was seeking statehood. This watercolor, painted in 1984 by lifelong Methodist Frances Riemer Burt, is an artist's rendition of the church's buildings.
Burt moved to Sacramento from a southern Wisconsin farming community in 1954 and brought her family to worship at the largest Methodist church in Sacramento at the time. Over the years, she taught Sunday School, organized art shows and displays, served on or chaired various commissions, wrote and produced plays, and was an active member of the United Methodist Women