The Union Church

Did you know that Monroe’s Protestant faiths once shared a building? The building was called the “Union Church”. Here is how it got started.

In 1853, Mr. James S. Ray donated land at the corner of Walnut and Jefferson streets (roughly near where the railroad crosses Walnut and Grand), “…for the use of the public on which a two story building is to be erected, the lower story of which is to be for the purposes of Religious worship for all Religious Denominations without distinction, and the upper story to be appropriated for the purpose of Masonic meetings in all its grades and forms…”

The next year the building was constructed and the Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists and Presbyterians rotated Sunday services in the lower floor. Unfortunately, the great fire of 1871 burned the building to the ground and the different faiths had to build their own facilities!