UMC HISTORY

USA HISTORY

BEGINNINGS INFORMAL

  THE AMERICAN COLONIES

John Wesley is born.

1703

Jonathan Edwards born.

Charles Wesley is born.

1707

England and Scotland unite to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

Martin Boehm is born.

1725

First recorded scalping of Indians by whites in North America by New Hampshire militiamen.

Philip William Otterbein is born.

1726

Benjamin Colman preached an execution sermon to pirates in Boston.

John Wesley attends Oxford University.
Charles Wesley forms the "Holy Club" at Oxford.

1729

King George I crowned.

1732

Georgia Colony founded.
Ben Franklin starts a circulating library.

John Wesley serves as chaplain to Georgia Colony. 

1735

Paul Revere born

John Wesley learns Spanish in order to preach to the Native Americans in Georgia who were taught by Spanish Catholic missionaries.
John Wesley holds his first service in Savannah on March 7.
Charles Wesley leaves for England.

1736

Anna Lee born, founder of the Shakers.

 John and Charles Wesleys' conversion in London. 

1738

Ethan Allen born.
King George III born.

RENEWAL MOVEMENT WITHIN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND   

Formation of Methodist Societies in and around London. 

1739

Slave revolt in South Carolina.

John Wesley's first conference of preachers. 

1744

King George's War between the British and French in North America begins.

Francis Asbury is born.

1745

King George's War continues.

Thomas Coke is born.

1747

King George's War continues. The war ends in 1748.

Otterbein arrives in America. 

1752

Colonies adopt the Gregorian calendar.

Otterbein's conversion, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 

1754

French and Indian War.
Albany Plan.

John Wesley baptizes two African American slaves which breaks the color barrier for Methodist societies.

1758

British captured Fort Duquesne in present-day Pittsburgh.

Jacob Albright is born. 

1759

British capture Quebec.

Methodist colonists arrive in America.
Richard Allen is born. 

1760

Briton Hammon’s A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Surprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man-Servant to General Winslow, of Marshfield, in New England: Who Returned to Boston, After Having Been Absent Almost Thirteen Years is published and is regarded as the first work of prose written by a black American.

Robert Strawbridge organizes a Methodist class.

1763

Treaty of Paris I.

Barbara Heck helps to establish a Methodist congregation in New York City which is a forerunner to the John Street Church.
United Ministers, a non-sectarian group, developed. This group was a forerunner of the United Brethren Church.

1766

Repeal of Stamp Act.
Declaratory Act.

St. George's Society founded.

1767

Townsend Act.

John Street Church in New York City is built.

1768

Treaty with the Iroquois Indians to acquire much of the land between the Tennessee and Ohio rivers is signed.

Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmore arrive in America.
St. George's Church Purchased and Dedicated.

1769

 Virginia's resolutions.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

George Whitefield dies at Newburyport, Massachusetts on his seventh visit to America.
Mary Evans Thorne is appointed class leader by Joseph Pilmore in Philadelphia. Thorne is probably the first woman in the Colonies to be appointed as such.

1770

Boston Massacre.

Francis Asbury arrives in America.

1771

Benjamin Banneker, American black mathematician and surveyor born.

First conference of American Methodist preachers. George Shadford and Thomas Rankin sail for America.

1773

Boston Tea Party.

Lovely Lane Chapel built in Baltimore. 

1774

First Continental Congress.

1775

Revolutionary War.

Thomas Coke named by Wesley as the first superintendent for America. 

1776

Declaration of Independence.

1783

Articles of Peace, Treaty of Paris II.

ORGANIZATION OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

THE NEW NATION

Initial call to the Christmas Conference originates at Barratt's Chapel.
Christmas Conference. Ordination of preachers.
Richard Allen and Absalom Jones are the first African Americans licensed to preach.

1784

Plan to divide Western territories for new states.
New York City temporary national capital of United States.

Formation of black congregations.
Cokesbury College opens in Abingdon, Maryland.
Wesley writes to Asbury deploring the genocide of Native Americans.

1787

Constitutional Convention.

Charles Wesley dies.

1788

Constitution adopted.

Bishops Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke visit President Washington.
Methodist Book Concern is established in Philadelphia.

1789

George Washington inaugurated.

Jacob Albright's conversion.
Methodist Episcopal Church recognizes Sunday School as a valid ministry.
African-Americans make up twenty percent of American Methodists.

1790

First United States patent issued. First United States census. The census reports that 697,897 slaves and 59,466 free African Americans in the United States.
The first successful American Sunday School is established in Philadelphia.

John Wesley dies. 

1791

Bill of Rights. Vermont statehood.

First quadrennial General Conference of American Methodists.
Richard Allen leads African Amercians out of St. George's Church in Philadelphia.

1792

Postal Service, Mint, and Military Draft established.

1793

Eli Whitney invents the Cotton Gin. 
Fugitive Slave Act.

Beginning of the camp meeting movement at Rehoboth, North Carolina.
Bethal Methodist Episcopal Church founded in Philadelphia.

1794

John Jay's treaty with England.
The American Convention of Abolition Societies is formed in Philadelphia.

Albright began his first preaching tour.
Zion Methodist Epsicopal Church organized in New York by James Varrick.
Zoar Methodist Episcopal Church founded in Philadelphia. 

1796

Tennessee is the 16th state admitted to the Union.

OTTERBEIN AND BOEHM FOUND THE CHURCH OF THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST (a.k.a UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH)

EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION FOUNDED

Methodist Episcopal Church General Conference issues a pastoral letter on abolishing slavery and allows bishops to ordain African Americans as deacons.

1800

National capital moved to Washington, D.C.

EXPANSION, REVIVALS, REFORMS AND SCHISMS 

WESTERN EXPANSION

Cane Ridge Camp Meeting, the Great Revival in the West begins. 

1801

Thomas Jefferson inaugurated.

First conference of the Evangelical Association meets and "ordains" Albright.

1803

Marbury vs. Madison case.
Louisiana Purchase.

EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION ORGANIZED

Albright elected bishop.

1807

Embargo Act.

Methodists adopt a constitution.
Jacob Albright dies.

1808

Slave importation prohibited.
There are 1,000,000 slaves in the United States.

First Discipline and Catechism of the Evangelical Association is printed. 

1809

James Madison inaugurated.
Non-Intercourse Act.

Evangelical Association holds first German camp meeting. 

1810

Postal services consolidated under uniform private contracts.

Martin Boehm dies.
General Conference is composed of its first elected delegates.

1812

War of 1812.

William Otterbein dies.
Christian Newcomber becomes a bishop for the United Brethren Church. 

1813

James Madison sworn in for second term.

Thomas Coke dies.
John Dreisbach elected first Presiding Elder for the Evangelical Association.
John Stewart converted.

1814

Washington, D.C. burned by British Army.
War of 1812 ends.

First General Conference of United Brethren Church in Christ - Discipline and Confession of Faith adopted.
John Stewart begins his work with the Wyandotts.

1815

Battle of New Orleans.

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH ORGANIZED

Francis Asbury dies.

First General Conference adopts the name Evangelical Association.

1816

Indiana statehood.

ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS

First publishing house for the Evangelical Association starts in New Berlin, Pennsylvania. Negotiations for a potential merger between the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical Association at the "Social Conference."
Richard Allen gives Jarena Lee permission to preach and hold meetings.

1817

James Monroe inaugurated.

Formation of Methodist Missionary Society - mission to Wyandott Indians in Ohio officially established.

1819

Florida acquired from Spain.

Reformers debate roles of bishops and laity in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Methodists in Alabama form missionary society to work with the Chickasaws and Choctaws.

1820

Missouri Compromise.
American Colonization Society founds Liberia for the repatriation of African Americans.

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH ORGANIZED

William Capers founds Asbury Mission to the Lower Creek Tribes.

1821

Emma Hart Willard found Troy Female Seminary, first endowed school for girls.

Zion's Herald begins publication, first Methodist weekly newspaper.

1823

Monroe Doctrine.

"Reformers" exit to form the associated Methodist Churches.

1828

Tariff of Abominations.
Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language published.

Primitive Methodists begun mission to America.
Oneida Mission established.

1829

Andrew Jackson inaugurated.

METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH ORGANIZED

1830

First locomotive steam engine put into service.
Slavery north of the Mason-Dixon Line is virtually abolished.
Massive German immigration to the United States begins.

Indian Conference formed by Methodist Episcopal Church's General Conference. 

1832

Black Hawk War begins.
Source of the Mississippi River discovered in Minnesota.
Public street-cars begin service in New York City.
John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign.

Melville Cox begins first overseas mission in Liberia.
Jason Lee goes west to establish work in Oregon.
Turtle Fields becomes the first ordained Native American minister by the Tennessee Conference.
Chippewa mission established. 

1833

Sewing machine invented.
Oberlin College opens in Ohio - It admits African Americans and women from its inception.

The United Brethren Publishing House is formed.
Evangelical Association begins publishing the Der Christliche Botschafter.
Sophronia Farrington, the first unmarried Methodist woman missionary, arrives in Liberia.
David Ayers distributes Bibles in Spanish in South Texas.

1834

McCormick invents the mechanical reaper.
Organization of the New York Female Moral Reform Society.

Phoebe Palmer institutes a weekly prayer meeting in her home.
William Nast becomes a missionary to the Germans in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Indian Manual Training Schools established in Oregon.

1835

Texas Revolution from Mexico begins.

Der Christliche Botschafter, the first Evangelical Association newspaper, begins publication.

1836

Texas gains independence.
The New York Women's Anti-Slavery Society bars African Americans from its membership roles.

Ann Wilkins goes to Liberia.

1837

Depression.

Evangelical Association missionary society founded.

1838

Cherokee, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminole Native-Americans were forcibly removed from their homeland in the Southeast and Appalachian Mountains.

First Methodist regional historical society founded.
John Seybert elected first bishop for the Evangelical Association since Albright's death.
The Missionary Society of the Evangelical Association is formed.
The Methodist Episcopal Church acquires Wesleyan Female College, Macon, Georgia, the first college to grant full collegiate degrees to women.
Die Geschaftige Martha established by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

1839

Mississippi enacts the Married Women's Property Law.

Newbury Bible Institute (Vermont) is founded, the first American Methodist seminary, forerunner of Boston University School of Theology.

COLORED METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH ORGANIZED
 

1840

The Hawaiian kingdom is recognized as an independant country by Europe and the USA.
Antarctica claimed by the United States.
William Henry Harrison elected president.

The Ladies' Repository, the first Methodist periodical for women, is published.
The United Brethren Missionary Society is founded.

1841

William Henry Harrison inaugurated, dies.

Radical abolitionists exit to form Wesleyan Methodist Church.
Alejo Hernandez born.

1842

Massachusetts Labor Union.

Methodists North and South split over twin issues of slavery and episcopacy.
Indian Mission to the Oklahoma Territory organized.
The New York Ladies' Home Missionary Society is organized.

1844

Samuel Morse invents the telegraph.

METHODIOST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH, ORGANIZED

Indian Mission Conference organized by the newly formed MECS.

1845

Florida statehood. Texas annexed.
Potato famine in Ireland begins which results in thousands of immigrants coming to the United States.

Baltimore Colored Mission Conference organized by the Methodist Protestant Church.

1846

Iowa statehood.
Oregon boundary established with Canada.
Mormons begin trek to Salt Lake City.

A United Brethren quarterly conference gives Charity Opheral a preacher's license. 
Otterbein College established-first college for the United Brethren Church.
The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, publishes Southern Ladies' Companion.

1847

Utah settled by Mormons.
American forces take Mexico City. 
Fredrick Douglass begins publishing the North Star.
Gold is discovered in California.

The Evangelical Association begins publishing The Evangelical Messenger.
The Ladies' China Missionary Society of Baltimore is organized.
The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, begins mission work in China.

1848

Forerunner of the Associated Press is founded in New York.
Mexican War ends.
Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, launches the women's rights movement.

Jarena Lee's journal is published.

1849

Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland.
First Asians arrive in California.
Beginning of Cuban migration to Florida.

Five Points Mission is established in New York City.
Jubilee year of founding and mission to Germany begun by the Evangelical Association.
Ole Peter Peterson appointed a local preacher to Norwegians in Upper Iowa.

1850

Compromise of 1850.
Fugitive Slave Law enacted.
Lucy Stanton is the first African American woman to complete a collegiate course of study (Oberlin College).

Lydia Sexton is voted "recommendation" as a "pulpit speaker" by the General Conference for The Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

1851

Maine became the first state to enact a law prohibiting alcohol.
Sojourner Truth delivers her "Ain't I a Woman" speech.
New York Times begins publishing.
Singer granted a patent on his sewing machine.
YMCA founded.

Earliest call yet discovered for deaconess as an order in the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Zion's Herald, March 17, 1852 issue.

1852

Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Church of the United Brethren in Christ's Missionary Society founded.
Benigno Cardenas preaches the first Methodist sermon in Spanish in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

1853

Envelopes made by paper folding machine.

The first missionaries for the United Brethren Church are sent to Sierra Leone.
Garrett Biblical Institute opens in Evanston, Illinois.

1855

Abolitionists in New England and other parts of the North form the Emigrant Aid Societies to send anti-slavery activists into Kansas, where they can vote to keep it free. In Georgia and Alabama similar societies send in settlers who will vote in defense of slavery.
Iowa becomes the first state university to admit women.

Methodist Episcopal Church 's General Conference gives presiding elders authority to employ African American pastors.
William and Clementina Rowe Butler arrive as the first Methodist Episcopal Church missionaries to India.

1856

Pottawatomie Massacre.
Preston Brooks strikes Charles Sumner on the United States Capitol steps.

Church of the United Brethren in Christ General Conference passes a resolution that no woman should be allowed to preach.

1857

Dred Scott decision.
Dwight L. Moody begins revivalist career.

The Ladies' China Missionary Society supports a girls school in China, and two unmarried teachers, Sarah and Beulah Woolston, are sent by the Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Society.
Mrs. M. L. Kelley of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, organizes a fund-raising effort for missionaries in China. This is the earliest effort on record by the women of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in support of foreign missions. Francis Burns elected missionary bishop.

1858

Minnesota is the 32nd state admitted into the Union.

Young J. Allen and wife, missionaries for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, arrive in China to establish a mission.
Phoebe Palmer proclaims the rights of women to preach the Gospel in her book Promise of the Father.

1860

Abraham Lincoln elected.
South Carolina secedes.

  CIVIL WAR

North Central College founded - Evangelical Association.
Annie Whitmeyer becomes an agent for the Western Commission.

1861

Richmond, Virginia, becomes the official capital of the Conferderacy.

Amanda Hanby Billheimer, daughter of United Brethren bishop William Hanby, sails for Sierra Leone with her husband.  She is the first woman foreign missionary for the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

1862

Battles of Shiloh, Antietam.

1863

Emancipation Proclamation. 
Battles of Gettysburg, Vicksburg.
Kit Carson wages war on the Navajo.

Full clergy rights for black preachers with Frank B. Smith admitted to the New England Annual Conference.
Methodist deaconess work begins in Germany.
Methodist John M.Chivington, leader of the Colorado Militia, massacred 450 Cheyenne at Black Kettle.  Church does nothing to reprimand Chivington but the federal government recommends punishment.
Delaware Conference organized.

1864

Sherman takes Atlanta.

Evangelical Mission to Switzerland formed.
Mississippi Mission Conference formed by the Methodist Episcopal Church.

1865

Abraham Lincoln assassinated.
13th Amendment enacted to abolish slavery.

RECONSTRUCTION

Drew Theological Seminary established.
Maggie VanCott, first Methodist Episcopal Church woman to get local preacher's license.
Freedmen's Aid Society formed.
Helenor M. Davidson is ordained a deacon by the Methodist Protestant Church.
The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, lay representation in General and Annual Conferences as well as establishing African American districts, conferences and general conference.

1866

National Labor Union.

National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Holiness is founded.
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, establishes a mission in Brazil.

1867

United States buys Alaska.

Otis Gibson begins work with Chinese in California.
Annie Whitmeyer establishes The Ladies and Pastors Christian Union.
Reorganization of German conferences in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

1868

14th Amendment - Rights of Citizens.
New England Suffrage Association is organized.

The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church is formed.
Isabella Thoburn and Clara Swain leave for India.
Maggie Newton Van Cott is granted a local preacher's license.

1869

Trans-Continental Railroad.
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton found the National Woman Suffrage Association.
First Japanese immigrants arrive in the United States (California).

EXPANSION

COLORED METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH ORGANIZED (Name changed to CHRISTIAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH in 1952)

Mission House for for Chinese opens in San Francisco.

1870

15th Amendment - Right to Vote.

Alejo Hernandez becomes the first Mexican ordained deacon by a Methodist body - Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Union Biblical Seminary founded by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ in Dayton, Ohio.

1871

Congress approves the Indian Appropriations Act.

Lay representation won in Methodist Episcopal Church.
The Methodist churches receive the largest quota of funding from the federal government for the administration of Native American schools within their mission fields. This policy continues until the 1892 General Conference when it is deemed a violation between the separation of church and state. Actual funding continues into the early 20th century.
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, begins work in Mexico. 

1872

Arbor Day (April 10) is celebrated for the first time in Nebraska.
President Grant's administration regulates work among Native Americans to various denominations. Thus begins the government funding of social programs through churches.

William and Clementina Butler establish a mission in Mexico for the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Alejo Hernandez organizes first congregation in Mexico City and is ordained elder.
Woman's Missionary Association of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ founded.
Union Biblical Institute, later named [Garrett]-Evangelical Theological Seminary, founded.
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ's Sarah Dickey opens Mt. Hermon Seminary for African American girls in Mississippi.

1873

Depression.

The Women's Christian Temperance Union is formed.
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, organizes German Mission Conference.

1874

First structural steel bridge built in St. Louis.

Mission to Japan begun by the Evangelical Association.
Church of the United Brethen in Christ women organize the Woman's Missionary Association; in 1877 they are given General Conference recognition.

1875

American Express adopts the first private pension plan in American industry.

Anna Oliver is the first woman to receive a degree from Boston School of Theology.
Methodist Episcopal Church votes at General Conference to divide annual conferences along racial lines.

1876

United States Centennial.
Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.
Baseball's National League formed.
Custer dies at Little Big Horn.

Emily Beekin is sent to Sierra Leone as the first missionary of the United Brethren's Woman's Missionary Society.
Kanichi Miyama is converted in San Francisco. He later founded the first Japanese Methodist church in the United States.
First Hispanic church building in Key West, Florida.

1877

Thomas Edison invents the phonograph.
Nez Perce leave Idaho for Canada.

Women's Foreign Missionary Society of The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is recognized.

1878

Carl Sandburg, American poet, is born.
First commercial telephone exchange opens in New Haven, Connecticutt.
Lincoln County War begins in New Mexico.
Edison Electric Company begins operating.
 

Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Protestant Church is recognized.

1879

Methodist President Rutherford B. Hayes signs bill to allow women lawyers to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
First five and dime store opens in Utica, New York.
Albert Einstein born.

First Test Case: Ordination of women in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Antonio Diaz begins work in Los Angeles.
Women's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church is recognized.

1880

New wave of immigrants arrive.

First Ecumenical Methodist Conference - London.
Amanda Berry Smith becomes a missionary to Liberia.

1881

Beginning of Civil Service reform.

Board of Church Extension is started by the Methodist Episcopal Church.

1882

Rockefeller gains oil trust.
The United States government passes the Exclusion Act which barred Chinese immigration.

Woman's Missionary Society of the Evangelical Association is recognized.

1884

United States Naval War College founded.
First baseball post season championship game played between the National League and American Association.

First denominational historical society formed - Church of the United Brethren in Christ.
Bishop William Taylor begins his African mission work.
The Spanish Mission Conference (MEC) and the Mexican Frontier Conference (MECS) organized.

1885

First sky scraper built in Chicago.
Louis Pasteur administers successful rabies vaccine.

Ella Niswonger is the first woman ordained in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.
New Constitution and Confession of Faith adopted which leads to the withdrawal of the Church of the United Brethren (Old Constitution) under Bishop Milton Wright.
Enrique Someillan becomes the first Cuban pastor in Key West.

1889

First practical dishwasher manufactured.
First film made in the United States: Fred Ott's Sneeze.

Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is recognized.

1890

Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the United Evangelical Church is recognized.

1891

International Copyright Act passed.
Wrigley Company founded in Chicago.
Carnegie Hall in New York City opens.
Alternating current (AC) is transmitted for the first time in Colorado.

Lay delegates of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ are admitted to General Conference which includes two women.
Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Protestant Church is recognized.

1893

American businessmen and lawyers in Hawaii stage a revolt, backed by U.S. troops.

The UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH officially breaks away from the Evangelical Association.

1894

Pullman Company strike.

Mrs. Hartman from Oregon is the first female member of an Evangelical Association annual conference.

1895

Wilhelm Rontgen discovers x-rays.

Seven missionaries of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ's Woman's Missionary Association are massacred in Sierra Leone.
Methodist Episcopal Church opens a mission in Rhodesia.

1898

Spanish-American War.

Church of the United Brethren in Christ establish s a mission in Puerto Rico.
Methodist Episcopal Church establishes a mission in the Philippines.

1899

Guam, Philippines and Puerto Rico annexed.

Full laity rights for women - Methodist Episcopal Church.
The Japan Mission Conference organized.
Drees establishes a mission in Puerto Rico for the Methodist Episcopal Church.

1900

Hawaii Territory organized.

INDUSTRIALIZATION

Ella Niswonger is elected the first woman clergy delegate to the Church of the United Brethren in Christ's General Conference.

1901

Theodore Roosevelt inaugurated.

Puerto Rico Mission organized.
Juan Vazquez becomes the first Puerto Rican to be licensed as a local preacher.

1902

The United States ended its occupation of Cuba.
President Roosevelt begins conservation of forests.

Evangelical Association creates Deaconess Society.
Laymen are voted membership in the Evangelical Association General Conference but denied the same priviledge at the annual conference level.
First Koreans arrive in Hawaii. Among them are Korean Methodists. Work soon starts in California.

1903

Wright brothers fly.

Methodist Episcopal Church women are given laity rights and admitted as delegates to General Conference.
Ladies Aid Societies granted recognition by the Methodist Episcopal Church.

1904

Roosevelt corollary to Monroe Doctrine.

Joint Methodist hymnbook, Methodist Episcopal Church and Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Hawaii Mission established by the Methodist Episcopal Church.

1905

Theodore Roosevelt inaugurated for second term.

Methodist Protestant Church begins work in India.
Martha Drummer, an African American deaconess, sent to Angola.

1906

Pan-American Conference.
San Francisco earthquake and fire.

First Methodist Social Creed adopted.
Mrs. M. C. B. Mason named supervisor of the Bureau of Colored Deaconesses for the Methodist Episcopal Church.

1908

Model T introduced by Ford Motor Company.
General Electric patents electric toaster.

The Brotherhood, A Church of the United Brethren in Christ men's fellowship group, is organized.
Methodist Episcopal Church organizes its Italian Mission.

1909

William Taft inaugurated.
NAACP founded in New York City.

Women's Missionary Council of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is created from the former Woman's Foreign and Home Missionary Societies.

1910

Boy Scouts of America founded.
Glacier National Park established.
United States Bureau authorized.

Gum Moon Home for Women begun in San Francisco.

1912

Arizona and New Mexico are granted statehood.

Lake Junaluska Assembly is opend for Southern Methodists.
Wesley Foundation is organized at the University of Illinois.
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ declares that the aim of its mission program is to make their overseas fields self-supporting.

1913

Woodrow Wilson inaugurated.
17th Amendment - Income Tax.

WORLD WAR I

Candler School of Theology is founded.
Pacific Mexican Conference founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 

1914

Wilson proclaims United States neutrality.

First black bishops elected and a woman is granted local preacher status in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Methodist Episcopal Church's General Conference orders the Board of Missions to renew its efforts among Native Americans.

1920

18th Amendment - Prohibition of alcohol enacted. States ratification took place in 1919.
19th Amendment - Women's Suffrage.

EVANGELICAL CHURCH FORMED

Methodist Episcopal Church, South, gives women full laity rights.
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, begins mission work in Europe.
The Woman's Missionary Society of the Evangelical Church organized.
The WFMS of the Methodist Protestant Church begins mission work in India.

1922

Colonel Charles Young, one of the first African Americans to graduate from West Point, dies in Lagos, Nigeria. Young was also the first African American to become a colonel in the United States Army.

"Local" ordination of women in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

1924

Teapot Dome Scandal.
Congress passes Chinese Exclusion Act.

GREAT DEPRESSION

Southwest and Central West annual conferences formed.

1929

Stock Market Crash.
Mexicans deported.

1933

Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurated.
New Deal.
21st Amendment repeals Prohibition.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant Church issue a joint hymnal.
Mary McLeod Bethune named director of the Negro Division of the National Youth Administration.  She also becomes the first president of the National Council of Negro Women.

1935

Works Progress Administration (WPA) formed.
Social Security Act passed.

METHODIST CHURCH ORGANIZED

WORLD WAR II

Formation of the Methodist Church, union of the Methodist Episcopal Churches, North and South, and the Methodist Protestant Church.
Georgia Harkness begins teaching at Garrett Biblical Institute.
Helen Kim becomes president of Ewha University in Korea.
Woman's Society of Christian Service and the Wesleyan Service Guild of the Methodist Church organized.

1939

Hitler signs an order authorizing involuntary euthanasia.

First meeting of the Central Jurisdiction.

1940

Benjamin Davis becomes the first African American general in the United States Army.

Puerto Rico Provisional Conference organized.
Latin American Provisional Conference organized.

1941

Pearl Harbor attacked and the United States declares war on Japan and Germany.

Church of the United Brethren in Christ begins Hispanic work in Tampa.

1942

World War II continues.

California Oriental Provisional Conference organized.

1945

United Nations organized.

EVANGELICAL UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH ORGANIZED

COLD WAR

Merger of the Evangelical Church and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Women are denied ordination in the new church.
Women's Society of World Service organized in the new Evangelical United Brethren Church.

1946

The Philippines, a United States protectorate, gains its independence.

The Methodist Church launches Advance for Christ  and His Church which is seen as a continuation of The Crusade for Christ.

1948

Bell Labs invents the transistor.
NATO formed.

Oriental Provisional Conference organized. 

1950

Korean War.

Hymnario Metodista is published.
Paula Mojzes appointed as the first district superintendent in the Methodist Church.

1955

Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott.
Supreme Court orders desegregation.
AFL and CIO merge to form one labor union.

Full clergy rights for women in the Methodist Church (Maude Keister Jensen is the first ordinant).
General Conference adopts legislation that allows churches within the African American Central Jurisdiction to transfer out to geographical non-African American jurisdictions.

1956

Suez Canal crisis.

El Interprete debuts.
Sally Alford Crenshaw ordained by the East Tennessee Annual Conference. Crenshaw is the first African American woman to be so honored.

1958

Explorer 1 launched.

Alaska Methodist University opens.

1959

Alaska and Hawaii statehood.

Central Jurisdiction forms a committee to study ways of eliminating the jurisdiction.

1960

John F. Kennedy elected.

Cuban missionaries recalled, native pastors follow.

1961

First manned space flight.
Relations with Cuba are severed.
Freedom riders.
Space program to the moon begins.

VIETNAM WAR

Methodist Church of Ceylon becomes autonomous.

1963

Kennedy assassinated.

Beginning of end for the Central Jurisdiction.
Lim Swee Beng, first national appointed district superintendent of the Malacca District, Malaysia Chinese Conference.

1964

24th Admendment - Elimination of Poll Tax.
Civil Rights Act.

Evangelicals launch Good News Movement.

1966

National Organization for Women founded.
Texas Valley farm workers strike.

Margaret Henrichsen - First woman district superintendent in the United States.
Noemi Diaz is the first Hispanic women ordained by an annual conference. New York Annual Conference does the honors.
Last session of the Central Jurisdiction held in Nashville.

1967

Long Hot Summer.

THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH ORGANIZED

Union of Methodist Church and Evangelical United Brethren Church.  General Commission on Archives and History, General Commission on Religion and Race and General Council on Ministries created.
Black Methodists for Church Renewal formed.

1968

Democratic Convention riots in Chicago.

Methodist churches in Cuba, Malaysia-Singapore, Pakistan, Chile, and Argentina become autonomous.

1969

Moon landing.

United Methodist Women formed.
MARCHA formed.

1971

26th Amendment - Right to Vote for 18 Year Olds.

First full General Conference of The United Methodist Church.
General Commission on the Status and Role of Women created.
End of Central Jurisdiction Conferences.
Wilbur Wong Yan Choy becomes the first Asian American bishop.
United Methodist Women founded.

1972

Richard Nixon re-elected.
Watergate scandal.

A committee of four Hispanic pastors coordinates work in Florida.

1973

Vietnam cease-fire.
War Powers Act.

National Federation of Asian American United Methodists formed.

1974

Nixon resigns.
Gerald Ford inaugurated.

Ethnic Minority Local Church emphasis begins.
Mai Gray becomes the first African-American president of Women's Division.

1976

United States Bicentennial.

Marjorie Matthews - First woman elected bishop.

1980

Ronald Reagan elected.

General Commission on Archives and History opens permanent headquarters at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.
First Hispanic church founded in Milwaukee.

1982

Equal Rights Admendment defeated.

Bicentennial of The United Methodist Church.
Leontine T. C. Kelly becomes first African- American woman to be elected bishop.
Elias G. Galvan becomes first Hispanic to be elected bishop.

1984

Continental U.S. relays news feeds for stations on Ku-Band satellites.

The United Methodist Hymnal is published.
Fellowship of United Methodists in Worship, Music and the Other Arts formed.
National Fellowship of Filipino American United Methodists formed.

1989

Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons.

Fifty women serve The United Methodist Church as district superintendents.
First issue of Korean language magazine, United Methodist Family, is published.

1990

End of Cold War.

INFORMATION AGE

The United Methodist Church Book of Worship is published.
Africa University in Zimbabwe opens for classes.
Hae-Jong Kim, is elected the first Korean descent bishop in the United Methodist Church.

1992

William Jefferson Clinton elected.

Victor L. Bonilla becomes Puerto Rico's first autonomous bishop.

1993

Internet expands with World Wide Web.

General Commission on United Methodist Men formed.

1996

William Clinton re-elected.

General Conference held in Cleveland, Ohio. 

2000

George W. Bush elected.

2001

Terrorists attack the United States. The World Trade Center and Pentagon hit by commercial jets. Start of the War on Terrorism by the United States and its allies. 

Autonomous Protestant Methodist Church of Cote d' Ivoire gains United Methodist status.
General Conference creates the Connectional Table to replace the General Council on Ministries effective on January 1, 2005.
 

2004

San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Ronald Reagan dies.
George W. Bush re-elected.

United Methodist Women becomes a general agency of the denominaton.  It replaces the former General Board of Global Ministries' Women's Division.

2012

Barack Obama re-elected.
United States Supreme Court upholds the Affordable Health Care law.

General Board of Discipleship becomes Discipleship Ministries.

2013

Boston Marathon bombing.
Cornell University scientists grow a living ear usinga 3-D printer.
The Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, begins registering people.

2014

The Affordable Care Act, goes into affect for millions of Americans, the largest expansion of the social welfare state in decades.
Rise of ISIS in the MIddle East.

A number of gay ministers publicly declare their sexuality prior to General Conference.
General Conference held in Portland, Oregon.
Ordination of gay clergy inflame General Conference delegates causing deep divisions.
General Conference empowers Council of Bishops to call a special General Conference to study and present findings on the homosexuality ordination issue.  
The Council of Bishops sets up the Commission on a Way Forward to prepare for special conferene.
The Western Jurisdiction later elects Reverend Karen Oliveto, pastor of San Francisco's Glide Memorial UMC and an openly married gay women on the 17th ballot.
Immediately the South Central Jurisdiction files a declaratory petition to the Judicial Council to invalidate Oliveto's election.
 

2016

Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge occupied.
Protests erupt across the country over multiple shoots of African Americans by police.
Chicago Cubs win World Series after a 108 year drought.
Donald Trump elected president.

Judicial Council rules against Oliveto and upholds Book of Discipline ban on openly gay ministers from serving in the denomination.  The decision fails to bring together both sides of the issue. Oliveto, however, remains in good standing until an administrative or judicial process is complete.
Council of Bishops call for special General Conference to meet in 2019.

2017

Inauguration of Donald Trump.