The History of The First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto

Senior Ministers Photo Wall

Our Senior Pastors

The permanent display of photos of all of our Senior Ministers, 1894-present, is up again. Now it is on the hall wall across from Pat’s Place on the lower level.

A huge thank you to Ken Shafer who attached it to the wall and to whoever collected all the pictures in the first place.

I’m sure collecting them was associated with our centennial in 1994 and it must have been a huge project.

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Our Architectural History

Since the First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto was founded in 1894, we've not only been an integral part of the Palo Alto community, but we've also had a significant architectural history.

Toby Williams has written a comprehensive account of the many buildings that have served as our church over the last 100+ years, including the story behind our present sanctuary. She'a also unearthed many photos showing what we've looked like over the past century.

Read all about our architectural history

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Visit by the King of Tonga

The First Tongan United Methodist Church shares our facility.

Tonga is a nation made up of over 170 islands in the South Pacific. Many Tongans have emigrated to the United States and many of them live in the Bay Area. For many years King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, along with other Tongan dignitaries, would worship at our church and meet his subjects.

These photos are from his visit in August 2001. You'll notice that the ground and and chancel is covered with handmade Tapa cloths.

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Presidential Booksigning

On January 30, 2001 former President Jimmy Carter came to the church for a booksigning. Approximately 1500 people were present at this two hour event to get President Carter to autograph a copy of his new book An Hour Before Daylight

The booksigning was hosted by our church and was sponsored by Kepler's Bookstore in Menlo Park.

These pictures of President Carter were taken by FUMCPA member Joe Heim.

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