Historic Preservation: Restoring Our Stained Glass Windows

To learn more about the history of our stained glass windows and the ongoing restoration project, click the button below on the left. To donate to the project, click the button below on the right.

More About Our Historic Church

Trinity United Methodist Church has been a part of Lafayette since 1824. The first meetings were held in the old log courthouse; the church was formally organized in 1827 with 10 members.

In 1830, the first church building was built on Sixth Street for $1,500. In 1836, the church moved to the northwest corner of Fifth and Ferry streets. They worshiped there until 1845 when they moved into a building along Fifth Street.

Lot #140 at Sixth and North streets was purchased in 1868 for $7,000. The Chapel (now the portion of our current building that contains the Parlor) was completed in 1869; the Sanctuary was completed in 1873 and was formally dedicated on March 23, 1873. The cost for the building was $90,000. In 1869, the church was officially given the name Trinity, as other Methodist churches were being established in the community.

One of the biggest changes to the church building was the installation of the basement in the 1930s. In 1933, the Homebuilders Sunday school class volunteered to enlarge the basement. By hand-digging the entire area of the current basement and carrying out the dirt in buckets, they created the space that now houses the Fellowship Hall, the Friendship Room and the kitchen.

Numerous upgrades, remodeling and building projects have happened at the church since then. All have asked members to step out in faith during various campaigns to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  Learn more about the preservation projects at Trinity here. Read more about Trinity's history here.
Thank you to Jane Nichols for serving as Trinity's archivist and historian for over 25 years.
Thank you to Amanda Grossman who is currently serving as Trinity's archivist.