Originally organized as the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1884, First United Methodist Church has served Alvord for 130 years. Construction of the church building began in March 1884 with Rev. F.W. Morton as the first pastor, and a 600-pound bell from the C.S. Bell Company of Hillsboro, Ohio, arrived for the church; the original bell still stands at the corner of Wickham and Washington. A Methodist Sunday School was organized in October 1884 and met on Sunday evenings at the church house. The original church house, a long building with a bell tower, faced east on Wickham Street with windows on the south and north sides, and it remained the place of worship and Sunday School until a new sanctuary and pulpit were built in 1961 using some wood preserved from the original 1884 building. In 1922, Foster Church north of Alvord consolidated with the Alvord church, and the transfer of members led to the construction of a white frame house on the adjoining lot for Sunday School classes until an educational building was built. Dedicated in 1957, the educational building has been used for Sunday School, dinners, receptions, programs, recreation, senior citizen meals, and homecomings. In 2008, a new fellowship hall was constructed and named Memorial Hall. The church's women's society, organized in 1890, remains active, reflecting a congregation built on belief by the community and continuing to grow and move forward in faith.