Our church’s founder, Rev. Asa White, was an itinerant Methodist Episcopal preacher. He and his family led a wagon train on the Oregon Trail headed for Oregon City in 1847. A special blue canvas tent was used for shelter along the way and that Blue Tent became closely associated with Methodism in the West. The Blue Tent was used for class meetings and church services in Oregon City, San Francisco, Trinidad, and then Uniontown (later known as Arcata).

According to A Bell Rang in Uniontown, the First Hundred Years of Arcata and Its Methodist Church, “The Fourth of July of 1850 was being celebrated in Arcata and White pitched his Blue Tent on the south-east corner of Eighth and G Street, the present site of the Bank of America. He preached his first Arcata sermon in the center of the plaza ... he then gathered a crowd in the Blue Tent and formed the first Methodist Society in the area.”

Right: Pictured, are church founders Rev. Asa White and Catherine White; to the right of them, church members re-enact the founders.

Left: Church family gathered to celebrate AUMC's 150th.

The first church building was on the corner of Ninth and H, on land donated by the Rev. Asa White. The church later moved to Twelfth and H, and in 1961 moved to its current location at 1761 Eleventh Street. The Bell Rings On, History of the Arcata United Methodist Church 1950-2000 recorded: “At the ground breaking ceremony on Eleventh Street, we declared that a church may rise here in which the gospel of the Lord shall be proclaimed, a church where children shall learn to love God, a church where youth shall come to worship, study and play, a church where all shall seek first the Kingdom of God and shall dedicate themselves to the task of converting the whole of life...where the weary and heavy laden shall find comfort, where moments of meditation and hours of worship shall be touched with life-giving reality, where many shall be refreshed in spirit…”

Every year, the church celebrates its founding on the 4th of July by hosting a Root Beer Float booth during the Independence Day Jubilee in the Arcata Plaza. Funds raised benefit mission projects and church programs.

Additional Reading: For more on the history of Arcata and its first church, see:

Karshner, Gayle. 1994. A Bell Rang in Uniontown: The First Hundred Years of Arcata and Its Methodist Church 1850-1950. Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Company.

Longshore, Martha. 2000. The Bell Rings On: History of the Arcata United Methodist Church 1950-2000. Canada: Hignell Printing.

Both books are available through AUMC; call the church office at 707-822-1963.

The AUMC monthly newsletter, The Sea Breeze, runs a regular history column, “Windows on the Past.” Please click on the "Newsletter" link to the left for current and past newsletters.