Celebrating 200 Years
2025 marks Monroe Street United Methodist Church’s 200th anniversary. Join us as we celebrate the many blessings God has given us during the past two centuries. God has been present with us and challenged us to “Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). We continue to be a community that lives out Jesus’ teaching that where two or more are gathered in his name, he is with us.
Monroe Street UMC and Neighborhood Center to be featured in WGTE’s Toledo Stories
An exciting part of our celebration year is the production of a Toledo Stories segment about our founding, history, challenges and achievements. Part of WGTE public television’s series for over 20 years, these remarkable programs celebrate and document the people, places, and moments that built Northwest Ohio into the strong and vibrant region we live and work in. The documentary will highlight the good work that MSUMC has done and continues to do as a congregation and outreach ministry with thousands of families in the greater Toledo area.
Our story, Monroe Street United, will begin airing on December 18. Livestream and on-demand streaming will be available at wgte.org, pbs.org, the WGTE and PBS apps as well as the MSUMC website. Toledo Stories airs on Thursday evenings from 8-9 p.m. and Sunday mornings from 10-11 a.m.
Take a sneak peek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWvoPWO6h_4
For more information about the project, please contact Sarah Twitchell.
Funding is still needed to support this final 200th Anniversary project. Opportunities to support can be found at https://secure.myvanco.com/L-Z983/campaign/C-161PW.
Thank you to all who have donated so far!
- Elizabeth Bewie
- The Blaufuss Family
- Nathan & Cookie Chambers
- Phyllis Charles
- Chuck & Lanette Cornwell
- Dave & Wilma DiManna
- Marilyn Berry DuFour
- Laura Galati
- The Hamer-Light Family
- Marcia Frederick
- Tom Galloway
- Ingrid Gunderson
- Leslie Johnson
- Nancy Hatfield
- Bill & Marie Hoover
- Kevin & Bea Mulder
- Nancie Roberts
- Rita Sanchez
- Keith & Shirley Schlender
- Liz Sheets
- Clarence & Patricia Smith
- Deb Stoudt
- Chuck & Sue Thayer
- Larry & Sarah Twitchell
- Dawn Westley
- Buzz & Mary Ziegler
Donations have also been made in honor of the following:
- Jerry Charles
- Nancy Cartwright Hamer
- James C. Roberts
200th Anniversary Events
Check out some of the ways
we’ve celebrated this year!
Our Windows
In the 1990s, MSUMC member Gordan “Skip” Ward created a presentation about our windows he gave to new members as they joined the church. Wanting to preserve that history, MSUMC member Chuck E. Hodge volunteered to produce a video featuring narration by Skip and music by Brian Rotz, MSUMC Director of Music at that period.
Chuck and his wife Ann provided the funds in memory of their parents. Ann’s father, George R. Loudon, was Chairman of the MSUMC Building Committee in 1955 during the establishment of the new sanctuary. The funds raised were given to the MSUMC Foundation.
The windows were designed by Howard Gilman Wilbert of Pittsburgh Stained Glass Studio, which is still in business.
Learn More About Our History:
- The church began in 1825 when a Methodist circuit rider stopped in what would become western Toledo and offered to share the Christian gospel with people.
- A log cabin near Ten Mile Creek (now known as the Ottawa River) served as the first meeting place.
- In 1859, Monroe Street built its first church at the corner of Auburn Avenue and Monroe Street.
- In 1925, the congregation built a new church and classrooms at our current location.
- In 1955, the sanctuary where we currently worship was added.
- Our outreach to the community includes but is not limited to The Neighborhood Center, Bluff Street Village, Jobs with Justice, The NW Ohio Interfaith Council, and Freedom School.
