Church History

    In January, 1913, Dr. A.J. Chandler  donated a large lot on the corner of Chandler Blvd and California Street  for a new church. The first building for Chandler United Methodist was dedicated on this site in April, 1914. The building was a wood structure with no windows—just canvas flaps around the entire structure. It was commonly known around Chandler as “the old flap church”.

  In 1938 the canvas flaps gave way to Gothic windows, and by 1940 a 1,000 sq. ft. southwestern mission style sanctuary stood on the site of the old flap church near downtown Chandler.

  In 1956 a campaign was launched to raise funds for a completely new sanctuary. The old building was sold and moved out of town on May 1, 1959. Groundbreaking for the new sanctuary was celebrated in May 1960, and the congregation was worshipping in that structure by Thanksgiving.

  Throughout the years Chandler United Methodist has stood at the same site on Chandler Boulevard. Soon, that will be changing as we embark on an entirely new phase in the life of the congregation. We will be moving to a new church site which is located on the north side of Chandler Heights just east of Arizona Avenue. As we move and grow, we will always have the rich history as

“Chandler’s First Church”.