Location Name
First United Methodist Church, Anchorage, Alaska

Street Address
725 Ninth Ave.

City
Anchorage

Type of Prayer Place
Chapel

capture-anchorage-meth-2Description
The First United Methodist Church of Anchorage overlooks the broad expanse of Delaney Park. The first minister organized a Methodist congregation in the 1940s when Anchorage was growing as a railroad hub. When the property was purchased the church began meeting in a log cabin that was on the property. Many volunteers pitched until the basement of the church was completed and they began meeting in the basement while the rest of the church was being built.

The sanctuary today is a very warm and inviting space with wooden walls and a very highly pitched ceiling. One unusual feature of the design is that there are no widows along the walls. Instead natural light comes through windows at the rear of the sanctuary and hidden side windows in the altar area. One feature that intrigued me about the exterior is that the building blocks of the walls had been offset slightly from a straight pattern beside and on top of each other to form shadows that become a pattern of small crosses on the side of the church when the sun shines.

How I used this place of prayer
We happened to be in Anchorage on a Sunday, so we attended the 11:00 Sunday morning service.

Hours of Operation & Admission Requirements
church office open M-F 9-2

Contact Information / Sponsoring Organization
www.firstumcanchoarge.org; 907-272-2112

capture-anchorage-meth-3Personal Tips
We were staying at the Captian Cook Hotel on 5th Street, so we were able to walk for several blocks to get to the church. We noticed that you can also walk from many of the nearby down town hotels.

Added by Karen Barber on September 30, 2014