Starting by the Missouri River in 1854, Omaha was a real estate speculation that just spread and spread. As it grew, it consumed land through Douglas County. It took about 35 years to get to North 52nd Street, and when it got there, a new suburb was platted. It needed churches. This is a history of Dundee Methodist Church.

Growing Too Fast?

Platted in 1888, the Dundee Place suburb was planned to be exclusive, higher end, and strictly white. Doctors, business managers, and other high-end Omahans wanted to escape downtown, so they built fine homes in this new western suburb. It became on of the city’s first streetcar suburbs with a line straight up Dodge Street right to it.

Originally, plans for the Dundee Place Methodist Episcopal Church existed sometime before 1894. However, the congregation wasn’t successful enough to warrant a mention in the newspaper for the next 25 years. At some point in there, the older McCabe Methodist congregation, with a church at S. 41st and Leavenworth, merged with the Dundee congregation.

The Bungalow House Church

In 1923, there was an active Dundee Place Methodist Episcopal Aid Society, which led the movement to open a new church. The first minister was brought from western Nebraska to Omaha that year. Rev. William St. John Sanders (1875-1925) was a Methodist church starter from English who’d launched a few congregations, and had big plans for Dundee. Unforunately, his ministry was cut short by illness and he died in 1925.

Located at 5148 Dodge Street, the new congregation met in a house on the northeast corner of North 52nd and Dodge. An article said, “This church is unique among Omaha churches in that it is a church in a home, equipped with a Sunday School, Young People’s Society, and every facility of the church. It was formerly the Cornish residence.”

The minister lived in the house too, along with his wife and a 9-year-old child. The first service there had 100 attendees, and the Sunday School had 75 kids. A year later there were 125 kids, and the Epworth League held 4 hour Sunday evening sessions. That same year, the newspaper claimed the church was “the only bungalow church in America.”

Growing Up and Building Out

Late in 1924, they got a permit to build a temporary church on the NE corner of 52nd and Dodge behind the original house. The new structure was dedicated in November 1924, with its property valued at $40,000 “including kitchen, classroom, parsonage and auditorium.” In 1925, the congregation bought two more lots intending to build a large new structure. That apparently didnt’t happen, but in 1928 the congregation announced it had an architect named Charles W. Steinbaugh design a new building, a “big city church,” that would start construction in early 1929. The new building was planned for the church’s land on N. 52nd that extended from Dodge to Capitol Ave.

In October of that year, an article was published announcing the church would be built in spring of 1929. The newspaper said it “will make the church one of the largest in Omaha.” But the congregation lost their minister in early 1929.

That didn’t stop them though, and in September of that year the newspaper said “Building will now go ahead.” Planning “rapid construction,” the church said it was “in the midst of a building program.” With 180 members, the new building was going to face 52nd Street and be built on the northern half of the block. That article ended by saying, “The church is highly pleased with the progress it has made…”

Coming to an End

However, the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929. A week later, the newspaper included a history snippet highlighting the church’s 1924 foundation, but didn’t say anything about the new building. In May 1930, the newspaper said the congregation “may start construction of a permanent brick building in the fall,” but didn’t mention that past plans had been stalled. Later that month, they cancelled their once-popular Sunday evening services.

Over the next several years, the congregation offered a variety of regular church activities, including holiday services, special vesper services, and other events. Late in 1930, the church reported a 33% increase in membership, totaling 204 total. Later still, they said they were still building and estimated spending $50,000 on the first phase.

After serving the church for three years and being invited back again, in September 1931 their minister Rev. A.T. McFarland was reassigned to a different church.

Merging with Jennings

Something happened in the intervening years, because in April 1934, the trustees of Dundee voted to merge into the congregation at Jennings Methodist Church. Jennings, which was originally called Southwest Methodist Episcopal Church, lost their original building in 1913 to the Easter Sunday Tornado, and was originally at South 51st and Center. After the merger was finalized in June 1934, the Dundee-Jennings congregation started a new church at South 50th and Hickory Streets.

In 1936, the extra lot at North 52nd and Capitol was sold. In early 1937, Luther Memorial Lutheran Church started meeting in the former Dundee Methodist Church building at North 52nd and Dodge. In 1945, the church building was sold to Pella Danish Lutheran Church, which moved from its original home at North 30th and Binney Streets.

However, even the move of merging didn’t save the congregation, and in 1938, Jennings Methodist Church was dissolved.

In 1945, the formal dissolution of the Dundee Methodist Episcopal was completed. Today, their original church building and the parsonage still stand, although now the whole thing is a residence. While its been closed as a church for a long time, the Jennings Methodist Church building still stands, too.

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