Burns United Methodist Church
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Burns United Methodist Church | |
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| Location | 811 Crocker St. Des Moines, Iowa |
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| Coordinates | 41°35′37″N 93°37′43.5″W / 41.59361°N 93.628750°W |
| Built | 1912 |
| Architect | Wetherell & Gage |
| NRHP reference No. | 77000546[1] |
| Added to NRHP | June 15, 1977 |
Burns United Methodist Church is located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Its previous building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.[1]
The congregation was established in 1866 as the Black Methodist Episcopal Church. The church was eventually named for Francis Burns, the first black bishop of Methodist Episcopal Church.[2] They first worshiped in a segregated school building for black children. That was the first of six different locations the congregation called home until they bought this building from the German Emmanual Methodist congregation in 1930.[3] The congregation sponsored a variety of fundraising events to raise the money to buy the building, including dinners and a singing quartet of church members who toured the state. A fire damaged the building in the 1940s, and the congregation repaired the damages conforming to the building's original design.[3] They remained here until they moved to their present location at 1909 Martin Luther King Jr., Parkway in April 2011.[4]
