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LAUNCHING OF WESTCHESTER UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
On June 17, 1945, a group of Methodist people assembled in a small Lutheran Chapel on Supulveda Blvd. at 79th Street to begin the Westchester United Methodist Church. Dr. Calvin E. Holman, Superintendent of the Los Angeles District presided. There were 47 charter members.
On July 1, 1945, Rev. J. Bernard Watson, with his wife, Mildred, arrived to assist the Church. The congregation continued to meet in the Lutheran Chapel in the evenings until the end of 1945. Then for three months, they met in six private homes. In April 1946, they started meeting in an enlarged garage at 6550 W. 82nd Street. A church school was organized. The classes met in six scattered homes throughout the community with headquarters at the garage. A choir and the Women's Society of Christian Service were organized and by June 1946, there were 200 members of the church.
In January 1947, two weeks prior to the anticipated move to a vacated Episcopal building at the northeast corner of Manchester Blvd., at Emerson, the building was damaged by fire. However members of both the Methodist and Jewish congregations repaired the damage and both groups used that building for the next ten months.
By the end of November 1947, the Westchester Methodist Church, with financial aid from the Southern California-Arizona Conference, Los Angeles Missionary Society and dedicated support and efforts of its members, had completed a social hall, chapel, kitchen and study on four lots at Emerson and 80th Place at the astounding price of $30,000. Ground was broken for this construction on September 15, 1947. The social hall was also used as the sanctuary. They also acquired a parsonage on 84th Street.
September 17, 1950, was the day for groundbreaking for the new church school building for $31,541.00. This building is located on the west side of the Fellowship Hall.
By 1951, a group of adults called the Builders started having monthly meetings and this group is still active.
In 1955, a house was purchased at 8049 Emerson.
On Wednesday, November 21, 1956, the Westchester Methodist Church launched its Sanctuary Building Program, which also included expansion of the chapel to include a narthex and a bride's room, a 95-foot tower and also a suite of offices for the ministers and church secretary. Ground was broken on Sunday, March 23, 1958. An 18-foot stained glass cross was placed above the marble altar in the sanctuary. The sanctuary was consecrated by Bishop Gerald Kennedy on May 31, 1959.
On April 23, 1968, there was a merger of the Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist Churches to become the United Methodist Church.
In 1974 the Women's Society of Christian Service and Wesleyan Service Guild were reorganized into a group called United Methodist Women.
In 1995, the Westchester United Methodist Church celebrated its 50th anniversary with a program called "Celebrating the Past, Embracing the Future."
Westchester United Methodist Church
(310) 670-3777
8065 Emerson Avenue, Westchester, CA 90045-1435
go to map
(north of Manchester, west of Sepulveda, east of Lincoln)
wumcoffice1@sbcglobal.net
(Last updated 04/21/2009 vaf)