Church History
UUMC history

This history was compiled by Doug Haynes in 2009 with the input of many members of UUMC.

1908 Edward Blakeman was appointed “University Pastor.”

1913 University Methodist Episcopal Church (UMEC ) Founded student Church

1915 The Wesley Foundation is Founded
The Wesley Foundation in Wisconsin is the 2nd Wesley foundation in the world. Putting Wisconsin on the cutting edge of a movement for campus ministry that has since swept the nation. Edward Blakeman serves as director of The Wesley Foundation from 1915- 1925

UMEC deeds the church property to The Wesley Foundation for one dollar.

1917 First Wing is built.

WWI – Starr Eaton a Methodist student at UW Madison, dies in the war. A room is dedicated to his memory on the second floor. A photo of Eaton hangs in the room until sometime in the late 80s or 90s when it is stolen. The crossing now calls this room the “Fireplace room.”

1918 Robert and Mrs. Ingraham donate $35,000 to Lawrence College and $15,000 to The Wesley Foundation to endow a chair of Philosophy and Apologetics at both schools. Such a chair was never established at the UW presumably because of issues of division of church and state. The money has been used over the years to fund projects such as the Agenda for a Prophetic Faith (organized by Vern Visick ) as well as studies in biblical Hebrew and Greek ( led by Bill Webb) and lectures with a religious component.

Arlie L. Krussel serves as director of The Wesley Foundation from 1926- 1929

1928 2nd Wing of building is built.

Herbert Blashfield serves as director of The Wesley Foundation from 1929- 1932

Ormal L. Miller serves as director of The Wesley Foundation from 1932- 1938

1930’s Kay Helmer was Director’s Assistant (DA was a student ministry staff person).

During the depression the building was nearly lost due to financial troubles.

The 3 Squares eating coop was founded during the depression. Over the years this eating coop served meals to many students. Three Squares was disbanded in 1963.

Oscar Adam serves as director of The Wesley Foundation from 1938 - 1947

1942-45 During the war years, students of diverse beliefs ranging from conscientious objectors to soldiers in uniform would eat together at 3 Squares eating coop.

Sometime in the early 50s Bishop Skyler Garth hatched an idea to merge 1st Church and UMEC with a plan to build a grand cathedral of Methodist ministry in Madison. The cathedral was never built but the merger took place. (Bishop Garth died on a mission trip to Asia before the plan could be completed.) During the time that the merger was in place, there were services in both locations. It seems that ministry in the UMEC building was aimed at students and Sunday school was moved to 1st Church. As a result many families moved to 1st. The comment was made that, “We never recovered from this.”

1947 – 1951 Justice (Jay) Olson serves as director of The Wesley Foundation and was pastor on the staff of the merged church serving in the UUMC location. Betty Tennat and later Isabel Burris were staff members working in student ministry at that time.

Paul L. Jacquith serves as director of The Wesley Foundation from 1951-56

Another event that negatively affected the growth of UMEC at that time was the establishment of Bethany UMC in the mid 50s. Up till that point UMEC was the western most church in Madison.

Over the years one of the ministries of UUMC has been to provide space in the building to various groups. For many years there was a Chinese library; used by Chinese students at the University. The Chinese library was removed in 2000.

1956 the Merger between UMEC and 1st Church was undone and a separate congregation was formed once again under the name Wesley Methodist Church.

1957 - 62 - Bob Hamel was pastor and served as director of The Wesley foundation. Hamel was described as a charismatic preacher who filled the pews and had people standing in the aisles. (At that time, the pews extended further than they do now, into the narthex area.) This was a time when the churches attendance and finances were at their strongest. In contrast to the message coming from the pulpit of 1st Church, Hamel advocated that every Christian should belong to a political party. There was a controversy at the time of pastor Hamel regarding the removal of the American flag and a Christian flag from the chancel. In the mid 60s Hamel went on to Harvard.

During the pastorate of Bob Hamel, Bob Sanks came to do student ministry. Rev. Sanks became director of The Wesley Foundation in 1962. Rev. Sanks was an advocate of ecumenical ministry and moved his offices to Pres House. This led to funding being split between two forms of campus ministry, Madison Campus Ministry (MCM) and Wesley. Rev. Sanks was described as having different ideas about campus ministry including ‘Witness to the faculty’. I got the impression that his style was not always well received.

mid 1960s – early 1970s Bob Trobaugh was pastor. Rev. Trobaugh was described as not as charismatic as Rev. Hamel. As a result attendance numbers declined. Rev. Trobaugh was involved in the lives of students during a time of turmoil on the UW campus and was said to have helped keep the calm during the protest era.

1968 The name is changed to University United Methodist Church (UUMC)

During this time of turmoil (late 60s and early 70s) UUMC gets a reputation for being liberal. Some members were lost as a result.

At this time, Midge Miller was an active member and began the forum to present speakers (in opposition to the war??). The forum has continued until recent years on current topics.

Sometime in the 60s a fire broke out in the sanctuary, which has never been explained. In response building residents were initiated. Steve Webster was the first building resident, who occupied a one-room apartment and was responsible for opening and locking up the building.

During the pastorate of Rev. Trobaugh, Rev. Myron Talcott was in charge of student ministry. Rev. Talcott was much beloved and despite a tradition of hiring all new staff at the time a new senior pastor arrives, the denominational hierarchy was successfully petitioned to retain Rev. Talcott after the departure of Rev. Trobaugh.

In addition to the campus ministry provided by Rev. Talcott, there was also a group of students meeting in the early seventies that held independent worship services without the assistance of clergy.

Aug. 24 1970 Sterling Hall Bombing. The bomb exploded less than a block North of the church. The effect of the bomb on the building was that air was sucked toward the explosion with such force that the windows on the north side of the church were pushed out and the windows on the south side of the church were pushed in. The windows on the north side must have been severely damaged as they have been repaired. The south side windows are still bowed in.

In the early 70’s Many groups (60) were using space at UUMC. From 1971 – 1977 Fred Brancel was a staff member of UUMC whose primary responsibility was scheduling goups to use the building. In the early 70s as Karleton Armstrong was going to trial for the bombing of Sterling Hall, a group raising funds for the legal defense of Armstrong was given permission to use a room in the church for their activities. This led to a lawsuit after Madison city assessor, Ray Waterworth revolked UUMC’s tax exemption for one year. Church member Ken Orchard represented the church in this legal battle. Waterworth was described as a conservative Christian who believed the church building should be reserved for the use of church members only. The legal battle went on for ten years before finally reaching a settlement. The settlement required the church to pay taxes (about $10,000) for one year. The controversy caused some members to leave and reinforced the liberal reputation of the church.

1974 Steve Webster, a member of the church, asked the church to approve his License to preach. During that time he was also coming out to the church as gay. Webster’s license to preach did not receive the 2/3 majority needed for approval (The measure failed by one vote. It is said that since this was the last item on the agenda for that evening and some people in support of his candidacy had left by the time this was brought to a vote.) Even if the vote had passed he would not have been accepted at seminary.

1975 A task force reported on “The Church and the Gay Community” The task force issued a report, which advocated the acceptance of gays within the church. This report caused controversy, which led some members to leave and reinforced the liberal reputation of the church.


Early 80s to Early 90s Tom Garnhart is pastor at UUMC

Early 80s a ministry to homeless men is begun in the basement of UUMC The ministry stays for a year before moving to it’s current location at Grace Episcopal Church. Chuck Peifer of Madison Urban Ministry (MUM) is instrumental in founding this ministry.

Mid 80s UUMC is active in the sanctuary movement. Observers from UUMC travel to the Rio Grande valley to see how refugees from the war in El Salvador are being treated.

At some point a service of holy union was developed to celebrate the love and commitment of gay couples. From Dec. 16 1986 – May 24, 1990 UUMC provides services of holy union to gay couples. On May 18, 1990 an article in the Wisconsin State Journal about holy union services provokes angry letters to the bishop and superintendent which results in a statement by the cabinet issued on May 24 stating that such services “must be discontinued.”

June 12, 1990 - UUMC issues a resolution affirming holy union services.

mid 80s Hee Soo Jung starts a bible study on Friday evenings at UUMC which eventually becomes the Korean United Methodist Church (KUMC) in 1988. Over the years UUMC and KUMC hold many joint services. Other pastors of KUMC include Sung Kean Kim, Hans Hahn and Hyo-Won Park. KUMC originally was composed of graduate students and as students graduated the church continued to remake itself. In 2006? KUMC moved to Asbury UMC. A few years later KUMC was disbanded.

1980s and 90s – Bill Webb teaches biblical Greek and Hebrew as well as Sunday school.

Late 80s or early 90s a program of music scholarships begins. Scholarships are offered to students from the school of music, one from each voice: soprano, alto, tenor and bass, who participate in the UUMC choir. This program continues to the present day.

Early 90s – 1995 Cornelius Kanhai is pastor at UUMC.

1994-95 JungJa Lee is associate for campus ministry.

1995-98 Diane Reistroffer is pastor at UUMC Rev. Reistroffer is known for taking strong stances in support of gays and lesbians. When the hotel Washington (a local gathering place for gays) burns, Pastor Reistroffer holds a prayer service on the site. The church receives anonymous death threats and is picketed by Ron Ovadal (leader of an anti-gay group in Monroe).

1996 Orchard scholarships are founded. The scholarships are presented to United Methodist students at UW Madison in memory of Ken Orchard.

1998 Karlos Mosher leads a concert, which raised funds to pay for the new grand piano. This is the first of three fundraising concerts and is the beginning of the spring concert, which continues to present. This concert was held in the afternoon outside of church services.

98-2000 Lay minister Don Mendenhall is appointed to lead the church through a two year process of evaluation.

2000-2001 Hans Han is pastor of UUMC

May 14, 2001 A motion passes at the board meeting of The Wesley Foundation to divide UUMC from The Wesley Foundation and grant the property to the Wesley Foundation only. The motion is presented at the end of the meeting with little explanation or discussion. Some members vote in favor without understanding the implications of the resolution.

2001-2002 Elaine Weideman is pastor of UUMC

2002 - present Liturgical Dance ministry begins at UUMC with memorial funds from Joyce Brancel. Paul Shoeneman is hired to lead the Liturgical Dance ministry.

2002-2003 Frank Gaylord is pastor of UUMC

2003 – present JungJa Lee is pastor of UUMC

2005 UUMC sponsors a concert in memory of Marion Engelke titled Love’s Truth. Music director Scott Gendel was commissioned to compose and the words are taken from Engelke’s poetry.

2006 KUMC moved to Asbury UMC.

2007 Geneva Church becomes a tenant of Wesley. UUMC worship services are changed from 10:00 to noon.


University United Methodist Church 608-256-2353