Methodist services in Sugar Land date to as early as 1910, when Rev. C.C. Miller organized an informal church with no full-time minister and intermittent evangelical worship services, bible study, and hymn singing. In 1918, the Imperial Sugar Company donated Church Park, a parcel of land between Main and Wood streets, for the Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Catholic congregations to build churches. In August 1919, Missionary Minister Rev. C.E. Clark officially organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, whose 1919 trustees were C.J. Berney, Mrs. C.A. Dierks, Charles Vallenga, Mrs. W.M. Brooks, E.S. Repp, and C.N. Franks, and Rev. T.W. St. John served as the first appointed minister. The first church building was a one-story frame structure with stained glass windows, including "Jesus praying in the garden," which was installed in subsequent sanctuaries and in the prayer chapel of the present campus. Early ministries included a church choir, Easter cantatas, the Women's Methodist Missionary Society, later the United Methodist Women, youth groups, and local, national, and international benevolent causes. As membership increased, the congregation relocated, purchasing three acres on Eldridge Road in 1955 and building a modern church and hall, then buying additional acreage in the 1960s, completing a new brick sanctuary in 1977, and finishing the present 936-seat brick sanctuary in 1999. Additional facilities have included the school for little children, youth center in the former Laura Eldridge Memorial Hospital, education center, and Perry Abernathy Recreation Center. Through the 20th century and into the 21st, First United Methodist Church has ministered to the spiritual and practical needs of its neighbors and the world.