Hotchkiss Community United Methodist Church was dedicated on April 18, 1929. On October 28, 2009 ‘Hotchkiss Methodist Episcopal Church’ was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Colorado State Register of Historic Places. Our church is an excellent example of the craftsman style with the use of locally-collected basaltic rubble stone for the exterior.
The Methodist Church was organized as the earliest church in the North Fork Valley in 1893 with Rev. Henry Harpst as the first minister. The first church in Hotchkiss was completed in 1898. This was the Andrew L. Webb Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church. When the membership became too great for the small original 1898 church, the current church was completed in 1929. Evelyn Stewart was building designer, the wife of Peter Stewart the architect and builder of the current day church. William Couts and assistants laid the massive native stone exterior walls. The brick from the first church was salvaged, becoming the inner wall of the new church. The estimated cost of the new church was $15,000. The contents of the corner stone of the old church was put in a box made by Ed TeGrotenhuis and placed in the northwest corner of the new church. The church basement hall was dedicated ‘Stewart Hall’ in memory of Peter Stewart in 1954.
The present church continues to play a part in the history, religious and social life of the valley and Hotchkiss. The ‘Old Stone Church’ hosts Sunday worship services, Sunday schools, church organization and committee meetings, community outreach meetings, and more as a community church.
These stained glass windows were completed 1976-1979 by John Crouch an artist and church member. There are 28 total.
‘THE GRAY STONE CHURCH’ written by Edith Linn, August 1940
There’s a gray stone church in the valley
In the valley where the North Fork River rills
No spot is so dear in Hotchkiss
As the Grey Stone Church ‘tween the hills.
Chorus
Oh come, come, come, to the church in the valley
Oh come to the church ‘tween the hills
No spot is dear in Hotchkiss
As the Grey Stone church ‘tween the hills.
On August 21 in this church house
The women of the church gathered here
To organize a society of service
For a work that we all love to do.
Chorus
Let’s all go to church each Sunday morning
And listen to the children sing and praise
Our hearts will be rejoicing
On all of these Sabbath Days.
Chorus
