Wesley United Methodist Church is a church with many roots. The original Wesley root began on September 7, 1890, when Bessemer Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in a vacant store on Spruce Street. In December 1890, the congregation occupied a new building at the corner of Mesa and Pine. In 1893 the name was changed to Pine Street Methodist Episcopal Church. The congregation provided ministry to immigrants moving to the Bessemer area to work in the steel mill. An Italian mission was organized, and a Japanese mission was established that later became a Japanese language church. In 1902, the Pine Street congregation built a larger church at Northern and Orman and renamed themselves the Northern Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. Due to a declining need for Japanese language services, in 1950 the Japanese congregation merged back into Northern Avenue. In 1959, the Northern Avenue building was condemned. Since the community of Pueblo was expanding westward, the congregation purchased land at 85 Stanford Avenue. In September 1960, the congregation held its first service in the new building known as Wesley Methodist Church. The name Wesley United Methodist

Church came in 1968 when the Methodist denomination merged with the Evangelical United Brethren. Another root of Wesley came from Trinity UMC. Trinity UMC began on June 2, 1871, when a group of Southern Methodists from Georgia decided to organize a church on the St. Charles Mesa. Later they worshiped in the Mesa Junction neighborhood and, in 1902, built a church at Broadway and Pitkin. In those days, they were known as First Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Following the unification of the three branches of Methodism in 1939, their name was changed to Trinity Methodist Church. In 1955, the congregation sold its building (now known as the George McCarthy Historic Chapel) and relocated to Lucas and Alma. Due to declining membership, Trinity sold its building to another denomination and merged with Wesley on July 1, 1994. A third root of Wesley had its origins in Faith UMC, a nearby congregation that was making plans to move to Pueblo West. About 20 members who chose not to make that significant move came to Wesley in September 2001. They brought with them their Evangelical United Brethren heritage, further Our History diversifying the Wesley mix. The most recent root comes from St. Paul UMC, which merged into Wesley on May 16, 2007, bringing 133 members and considerable financial assets. St. Paul UMC had begun as Mesa Methodist Church in 1885, and became known as St. Paul when it inhabited its Colorado and Routt building in 1903. The congregation remodeled its building several times to accommodate their growing membership. St. Paul’s diversity was increased in 1965, when the African heritage Scott Methodist Church merged with them. St. Paul’s ministry reached as many as 1700 members in the 1960s, when they were the largest Methodist church in Pueblo. Since then, however, the congregation suffered significant decline, and the large worship center and its upkeep had become financially untenable. The St. Paul congregation decided to sell its building at 107 E. Routt to the Pueblo Community Health Center. Many of St. Paul’s members chose to go First UMC and other churches. But the majority made the transition to Wesley, and Wesley has received them with open arms.