Methodist Episcopal Church, Fifth & D Streets, Jacksonville, Jackson County, OR

Significance: The Methodist Church building, erected in 1854 by Rev. T.S. Royal, was the first church structure in Jacksonville. Prior to that time, religious services had been held wherever possible and convenient: Orange Jacobs, later a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Washington, reported that one service had been held in "a large building in the process of erection for a gambling-house on the opposite side of the street from the principle gambling saloon." Although the Methodists did not acquire title to the church land until 1859 when James Cluggage sold it to them for a nominal $1.00 - -they had already erected a building on the site. In November 1854, James McDonough and Thomas Pyle had filed a $456 lien against the Methodist Church for labor and materials "furnished in the erection and enclosing of said Building." In February of that year, Horace and Able Reed had sold Plye a kiln of bricks, which may have been for the foundation of the church.
Survey number: HABS OR-104
Building/structure dates: 1854 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1858 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1888 Subsequent Work