Pioneer Memorial Methodist Church

c.1931 from Oakland History Room ¹

The Pioneer Memorial Methodist Church was organized in 1883 as Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, South. South refers to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which split off from the main Methodist Episcopal Church over slavery; Asbury refers to Francis Asbury, who was primarily responsible for the formation and growth of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States.

NB: Asbury was misspelled as Ashbury in some references.

Beginning in 1954, the building on Telegraph was home to the First African Methodist Episcopal Church until it burned in 2023.

Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, South

The church was organized in 1883 by Dr. J.C. Simmons. The church then acquired the land at 15th and Clay and constructed a new building. The first reference found for the church at that location was from February 1884, when Rev. Samuel Brown was the pastor.

1887 directory

1889 ⁴

1889 Sanborn1902 Sanborn

First Methodist Episcopal Church, South

Asbury sold their property downtown in 1904, then moved to 34th and Elm and became known as First Methodist Episcopal Church (South).

1912 Sanborn excerpt

By 1912, they had changed the name to Pioneer Memorial Methodist Church. They purchased the lot at 37th and Telegraph and built a new hall at the rear of the lot.

Their new building at 37th and Telegraph was dedicated in 1917. ²

1917 ²