First Methodist Church Building
105 W. 1st St., Atoka, OKThe First Methodist Church building is primarily significant because of its unique architectural style, but also because it demonstrates the religious development and evolution of a major Protestant denomination within the region. Although Methodist missionaries had worked among the Choctaw Indian residents of the community, no church was actually organized in Atoka until 1885. The congregation's first minister was James Young Bryce, and its membership was composed of some Choctaw Indians but primarily of railroad workers who followed the Katy to the community. The first resident minister came in 1887, and it was under his direction that the congregation's initial house of worship was constructed at the corner of Pennsylvania and Court streets. Situated in the interior of the Choctaw Nation and beyond the jurisdiction of United States law, the church was one of those institutions that provided the white residents of Atoka a sense of community and the link with the "states." With Oklahoma statehood in 1907, the Methodist church grew rapidly, a fact that permitted it to construct and move to its present building. This same type of growth permitted the addition of an educational wing in 1954. The growth pattern of previous years, however, has not been maintained. Atoka has suffered a decline in population, a decline reflected in church membership. Moreover, the tendency of Atoka residents to identify with more evangelical Protestant groups has also caused a decrease in church roles.
The principal significance of the Methodist Church building is its architectural style. With a modified Palladian design that might pass for Greek Revival, it is totally unique to the community, and even to the region. There is, for example, nothing that compares with its dome, its Doric columns, or its stained-glass Palladian windows. Fortunately, the building is well maintained and recognized as a regional landmark.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.