The Methodists: mission of 1828, Berry Street Chapel, and First Wayne Street

Mission 1828 — first church 1840 — divided 1849 — reunited 1968

The founding: Methodism is Fort Wayne's second organized presence. The Indiana United Methodist Conference's heritage record and the congregation's historical marker agree: Methodism in the Fort Wayne area was organized as a mission in 1828. A News-Sentinel history adds that the Rev. James Holman preached the first Methodist sermon in the area in 1824, on his brother's farm west of the St. Marys River, and that in 1834 the new Indiana Conference made Fort Wayne a mission and centre of the northern Indiana circuit. The denomination's own historian, Earl L. Carvin, writing in 1956, is candid about the evidence: the 1828 date stands on the cornerstone of First Church, but the early records were accidentally destroyed and he could find "no authentic record of a mission or church in Fort Wayne prior to 1830." The 1828 date is carried here as the congregation's and conference's own, with Carvin's caveat attached.

Division and reunion: In 1840, under the Rev. Jacob Colclazer, the congregation built the Berry Street Chapel at Berry and Harrison — the Berry Street (or First) Methodist Church. Growth forced a division in 1849, ordered by the Indiana Conference with Harrison Street as the line: the Berry Street church kept the east side, and the new Wayne Street M.E. Church built at Wayne and Broadway, dedicated 1850; its handsome brick successor rose in 1871 and was remodelled in 1896. In 1968 the two sister congregations reunited as First Wayne Street United Methodist Church, and in 1973 the united congregation moved to its present church at 300 East Wayne Street; the old Wayne Street brick church became Broadway Christian Church and still stands at Wayne and Broadway.

Sources:

1. Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church (inumc.org), heritage entry "Wayne Street M.E. Church" — mission 1828, Berry Street Chapel 1840, division 1849, brick church 1871/1896, reunion 1968, move 1973.
2. Michael Hawfield, "Early Methodists answered city's educational prayers," News-Sentinel Cityscapes, 4 July 1994 — Holman's 1824 sermon, the 1834 conference, the 1849 division and 1968 reunion.
3. Earl L. Carvin, Methodism in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with Particular Reference to First Methodist Church (1956) — the destroyed records and the 1828 caveat, via the Internet Archive text.
4. Historical Marker Database — First Wayne Street United Methodist Church marker (Allen County–Fort Wayne Historical Society, erected 1972): "Methodism in Fort Wayne area originated with the establishment of a mission in 1828."