Getting the Church Established

    Rich deposits of ore had been discovered in the Coeur d’Alene country, and small but fertile valleys were found nestling between great ranges.  Settlements were forming, villages and towns were springing up.  The iron horse was puffing along the valleys and threading its way through the narrow canyons, and the steamboat was plowing its way along the rivers and lakes that abound here, laden with the commerce of enterprising people...

    ...The town of Wallace, which is the metropolis (*history written in 1907) of the Coeur d'Alene mining district, was also occupied, although at first, prior to the completion of the branch road from Desmit to Wallace, it required a stage ride over the rugged mountains (Thompson-Murray Wagon Tail), or a trip of several hundred miles around by Spokane, to reach it … yet a pastoral charge was organized … supplied with a pastor from the Montana Conference until it was turned over to the East Columbia Conference, to which territory it rightfully belonged, as it was across the line in the state of Idaho.


From the book: The Life of Stateler  - Montana & East Columbia Circuit Riders

    The Reverend W. H. Selleck was the first Methodist Minister to be sent to Wallace.  He held services in the Galland Hall on Bank Street...  He remained during the years 1894 to 1897, holding services on a circuit that included Wallace, Gem, Burke, Murray, Kellogg and Wardner.

    Reverend M. R. Brown arrived in Wallace on September 10, 1897.  In November of that same year, he started negotiations with the Northern Pacific Railroad Company for a site on which to build a church.  The ground on which the church stands, at the corner of 4th and Pine, was purchased for $100.00 on July 9, 1900.  Construction of the church building began on July 15, 1900, and the building was dedicated on October 21, 1900.  Rev. Brown served in the Wallace and Canyon towns for 5 years.


This information was taken from the Wallace - Burke

Methodist Church history packet (Pg. 6), 

Written for the church’s Centennial Celebration in 1994.




< Picture of Wallace in 1892