Historic Seattle church celebrates its final Easter

Historic Seattle church celebrates its final Easter

Photo courtesy of Seattle P-I

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Story Published: Mar 23, 2008 at 5:27 PM PDT

Story Updated: Mar 23, 2008 at 6:47 PM PDT

By Akiko Fujita

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Easter Service marked the end of a 100-year history for The Seattle First United Methodist Church. The congregation closed the doors to a century-old place of worship, to make way for new development downtown and look forward to a new church.

“It’s a full house which is what we hoped for,” said Sunday school teacher Deborah Loacker as she greeted church members for one last time. “We wanted a big day.”

The sale of the sanctuary and neighboring annex was finalized last week after a decade long battle to preserve it. The church has struggled to maintain the aging facilities as the congregation dwindled and money dried up.

“The building is big and old and lovely and wonderful but it’s not the best way for us to continue,” said church member Barbara Moreland. “We don’t need a place for 11 hundred people anymore.”

Nitze-Stagen, the new owners of the property plan to preserve the sanctuary. A 43-story tower will replace the aging chapel and the halls leading to it.

“It's modern architecture, 16 different facets, it protrudes over the church and over the Rainier Club so it should be a dramatic addition to the skyline,” said Kevin Daniels, president of Nitze-Stagen.

Members of the congregation began their long good-bye one month ago. They have been inscribing memories with markers on the annex walls. They held their last Sunday service in the chapel last week. Sunday school classrooms and administrative offices are nearly empty.

Today, current and former members of the congregations filled pews normally left empty. The crowd was so big, they filled the balcony up stairs.

Choir member Gwynne Dodge watched in amazement as she prepared to sing in the sanctuary for the last time. She joined the church 45 years ago and said the turnout reminded her of “the good ol’ days.”

“The church was full and the choir loft was full,” she said. “There were probably 80 people in the choir loft at the time.”

A smaller number will attend services at the Seattle Children’s Theater next week. It will serve as a temporary place of worship while crews build a new church at Denny Way between Second Avenue and Warren Avenue North, scheduled to be completed in Christmas 2009.

Dodge and Loacker say the church may be venturing into unfamiliar territory but the congregation will be stronger than before.

“It's exciting,” Loacker said. “Instead of a dying church we're moving towards a future.”

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