23 E. Adams * Detroit, Michigan
313-965-5422
As the congregation grew the church was replaced in 1833 by a building at Woodward and Congress and at Woodward and State in 1849. The Congress Street Methodist Church was formed in 1846 as a mission project of the first church.
The Congress Street Church
When the church at Congress and Randolph burned down in 1863, the First and Second Methodist Episcopal Societies consolidated. They built a new church on land at Woodward and Adams which had been purchased by the Congress Street Congregation for $8,600 some years earlier.
The merged congregations decided to erect the new building in the name of the First Methodist Episcopal Society and to call the new church Central M. E. Church. Although some argued that the location was so far north that it would be out in the suburbs, the proponents of the site carried the day. The cornerstone of Central Church's sanctuary, as it is known today, was laid July 3, 1867.
Thus it happens that Central Church today stands on a tract of land on which its trustees have several times been asked to name a price - such offers coming from business leaders well able to pay almost any price that might be asked. All such proposals have fallen on ears that believed downtown Detroit needs Central United Methodist Church and its influence far more than it needs one more place of business
