Trinity United Methodist Church
Trinity United Methodist Church-A Cornerstone of Tallahassee
By John L. Crow, Fall 2015
Before there was the city of Tallahassee, there was the religious community that formed Trinity Methodist. Like all early nineteenth century Methodist churches, Trinity started as a mission connected to other Methodists through circuit riders. In 1824, the group was large and stable enough to found a church. Initially it was under the jurisdiction of the Methodists in South Carolina, and then Georgia. Eventually, it became part of the Florida jurisdiction when the territory also became stable enough to enter the Union as the State of Florida in 1845.
Its first two decades were a challenge. Tallahassee was initially an unstable town. In 1826, one Leon County Grand Jury blamed alcohol for the “riotous immoral and disorderly” activities that took place daily. However, Trinity played a role in taming the town, and helped convert it into a community that Trinity Pastor, Gadwell J. Pearce, described in 1844 as “quiet” and “good ordered” thanks to “the growth of temperance, religion and law.” From this point, Trinity, like Florida, grew and prospered. When the church was founded it built a simple structure for worship in 1825. In 1840 Trinity completed its first church building, made of brick and stuccoed white cement, to keep up with the growth of the congregation. The church cost the congregation about $1000. Calculated based on the nominal GDP per capita method, this same $1000 would be worth $591,000 in 2014 dollars. The windows had green blinds, a wide porch with columns, and the interior of the sanctuary had row after row of benches, with white men and women sitting on separate sides. Above the benches was the gallery seating located on three sides of the interior where slaves attended church, looking down upon a semi-circular pulpit. Built on the corner of Park Avenue and Duval Street, the new building served the congregation for the next fifty years.
An important milestone in the church’s history was marked in 1851. Prior to this time, the church was called the Tallahassee Methodist Society. However, in 1851, it adopted the name Trinity, the name it has held since. By this point, Trinity was the most prominent church in Tallahassee. Rev. Simon P. Richardson wrote that its members included representative citizens, including pious women. This helped the church grow even more, establishing the first parsonage in 1860, built next to the sanctuary building. This, however was just before the beginning of the Civil War. Prior to the war, the issue of slavery split the Methodist Episcopal Church, north and south. Trinity sided with the south. When war broke out, things became less organized in both the church and Tallahassee. Records for this period are lacking, but it seems some church services persisted, at least intermittently. Tallahassee itself fared better than most Confederate capitals. It was the only state capital east of the Mississippi not burned by the Union army. Nevertheless, it suffered neglect and was wanting when the Union Calvary entered the city on My 10, 1865 to begin reconstruction. Soon after, more Union forces arrived beginning what some called the northern occupation of Tallahassee. However, the spirit of the people was high and the rebuilding of Tallahassee began.
At the end of the war, the congregation of Trinity stood near 150 whites. Trinity was a church that always had blacks participating and understood that with the post war changes, they had a responsibility to the community’s freed slaves. Trinity established programs to help educate ex-slaves including Sunday schools. When the Florida Methodist conference restarted in December 1865, it divided work into white and colored charges. These efforts helped buffer the demands made on southern churches and put Trinity on the forefront of assisting former slaves.
Despite these efforts, when the African Methodist Episcopal Church arrived in Tallahassee in 1865, the vast majority of Trinity’s black members left and joined the newly formed A.M.E. church. This was significant because the black membership at Trinity outnumbered the white members. By 1870, when the first A.M.E. church of Tallahassee was formally established, most of the members had left Trinity. Many of the new A.M.E. church leaders came directly from the colored ministry at Trinity including Dr. E.H. Myers, and his brother, S.W. Myers, both of whom became prominent leaders in the Florida A.M.E. conference.
At Trinity, due to the war, there was a shortage of ministers. Compounded with the migration of black members to the A.M.E. church, Trinity was in a dismal state. However the church persisted and within a decade, it was growing, aided by revivals. One of the most significant of these was in the fall of 1873. Lasting four weeks, the revival raised the spirits of members and brought new people to the altar and the church. The revivals continued throughout the 1870s and 1880s which helped the steady growth of the church. From 1883 to 1890, its membership grew almost 70%.
In the early 1890s, the church began a new building fund, looking to update the building that had served the church for half a century. On March 18, 1893, the new building was inaugurated, built at the same location as its predecessor. The semi-gothic, brick exterior house had a large stained glass window and a free-standing, column free auditorium sanctuary. It also contained a large organ, an “overhauled” version of the previous one.
With the new building, there was a new commitment to the faith by the congregants. This was matched by a revitalized Sunday school headed by George I. Davis as superintendent. By the end of the first decade of the 20th century, students were exceedingly punctual and prepared with their literature for classes. By 1910, the Sunday school included twenty-seven instructors and eight officers. Sunday school was not the only area the Church excelled at. Other organizations flourished under the Trinity canopy including the Epworth League of Young People, a service organization of young people who provided service to the community. These groups were so popular and active that in 1910, an annex was built onto the church to provide rooms for their activities.
During World War I, Trinity saw many of its young men go to war, some never to return. The church members strove to support the war effort by buying war bonds. These decades were also ones of great technological change to which both Tallahassee and the church struggled to adapt. After the war, like the rest of America, Tallahassee flourished and so did Trinity. Methodism was also looking to mend its prior conflicts, eventually reuniting the north and south divisions. By 1930, Trinity had over 1000 members. Trinity struggled during the depression, much like the rest of the nation. Nevertheless, WPA records of the period note the membership at 1,631 in 1934 and the persistence of the Sunday school, Woman’s Missionary Society and Epworth League.
With the attack on Pearl Harbor, America entered World War II and Trinity again saw members leave to fight on both war fronts. At least ten of the members never returned. Trinity memorialized the fallen members with a memorial plaque. During this time of struggle, Trinity strove to meet the community’s religious needs by having both in-person services, as well as having Sunday morning radio broadcasts, serving the needs of those in greater Leon County.
After the WWII, Trinity continued to grow and expand. Both in membership and in size by acquiring surrounding properties. Through 1948-1949 it had established parsonages for associate ministers and built a separate building for Sunday school. In 1962, a new building fund was established to rebuild the sanctuary which was now seventy years old. It was completed in 1963 and is the church structure that stands today. Since then Trinity has had its ups and downs. Trinity has remained a vital member of the Tallahassee community with members participating in a variety of organizations. Today it continues its tradition of Sunday school, serving youth in activities, such as band, adult Bible study, and it cooperates with other churches in Tallahassee to ensure the homeless are cared for and fed. As with most mainline churches, it has seen its membership decline in the last decade. Nevertheless, it is still a vital and active church and will likely be so for the foreseeable future.
Linda Yates describes the founding of Trinity Methodist and the first church building |
Linda Yates describes cornerstone and column from previous church buildings |
Linda Yates describes Trinty's role in helping found other Methodist Churches in Tallahassee area |
Linda Yates describes the community service work Trinity does for Tallahassee |
Linda Yates describes World War II Memorial Plaque |
Linda Yates describes describes the newsletters Trinity sent to soldiers during WWII |
Source: Yates, Linda H. ed. Trintiy United Methodist Church: Tallahassee's First Church 1824-1999. Tallahassee: Trinity United Methodist Church, 1999.
Special thanks to Linda Yates for her time and assistance.