Iowa's First Church

St. Luke’s United Methodist Church grew from the first church organized in what is now the State of Iowa. Reverend Barton Randle was appointed to the Dubuque circuit and mission and preached his first sermon in the Bell tavern on November 6, 1833. Under his leadership a Methodist class was organized on May 18, 1834, and the first log church building was erected on the southeast corner of Washington Park in June 1834. Randle said of the work, “Well done, to collect money, to build a splendid log meeting house, to pay for it and receive twelve members, all in a few weeks. It was the Lord’s doing, let Him have the Glory.”

Dubuque, Iowa · United States