HISTORICAL SKETCH

In 1857 the Reverend Daniel H. May, pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Nebraska City, preached the first sermon ever delivered in Beatrice, standing on a log in front of a log cabin.

The Beatrice Free Church Association was the first church organization here. This was a union of all Christian people in Beatrice. The Methodists organized a class and received their first pastor, the Reverend J. W. Foster, in 1859. Services were held in the little school house.

In 1868 the Beatrice Free Church Association began the erection of what was later known as the Old Stone Church. They soon decided to transfer the building over to the First Methodist Episcopal Church, on condition that the First M. E. Church would finish the building and assume all indebtedness. The transfer was made May 10, 1870, so the Old Stone Church became First Methodist Church. It stood near the corner of Fourth and Elk Streets.

In 1884 a new brick building was planned at Sixth and Elk Streets. The name, First Methodist Episcopal, was changed to Centenary Methodist Episcopal, in honor of the celebration of the first hundred years of organized Methodism in America. It was dedicated in 1886 and stood until June of 1929 when it was taken down to make room for the present building, dedicated on June 1, 1930.

In 1939 three denominations (Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Protestant and Methodist Episcopal Church South) merged to form The Methodist Church. In 1968 The Methodist Church united with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form the United Methodist Church. Thus we became known as Centenary United Methodist Church.

THE CURRENT BUILDING

Dr. Charles W. McCaskill was pastor here in June of 1929 when ground was broken for the present church building. The details of the building had been thoroughly planned by Dr. and Mrs. McCaskill in cooperation with the Board of Trustees. The architects were Dougher, Rich and Woodbury Company of Des Moines, Iowa.

Centenary Church is of English gothic design which is characterized by pointed arches, buttresses and sculptured stonework. This style has a central, predominating tower with decorated pinnacles, and a porch entrance off to the side. Wood is used inside, and the windows tell stories. Gothic style buildings are usually made of limestone and Centenary is built of Silverdale, Kansas limestone, erected in random ashlar formation. Half of the stones are smooth sawed and the other half are rough faced. The smooth sawed stone is of a cream buff color; the rough stone is more of a reddish brown. The stone trim around the windows and doors and upon the tower is gray Bedford limestone.

The interior of the tower entrance on the west side of the church has walls of red brick, taken from the Red Brick Church. The ceiling has exposed oak beams. Near the base on the north wall embedded in the brick, is the corner stone of the Old Stone Church, and above this is an artistic stone window, opening into the stair hall. The ceiling light fixture was installed in 1947 in memory of Charles W. McCaskill, D.D., whose vision inspired the building of this House of Worship.