This information is taken from excerpts from the Provincetown Banner on the 200th anniversary of the church.
Membership varied from a low of 12 families in 1802 to a period in the 1860’s when there were two Methodist churches with a combined seating capacity of 1600.
Not only the numbers of active members have changed, the locations of the houses of worship have migrated from one spot to another.
The first Methodist meeting was held at the home of Tomas Ryder in 1795. Town Meeting, in an effort to discourage Methodism, which was unpopular politically at the time, voted that no Methodist meeting house could be built in Provincetown. Not to be dissuaded from expressing the religion of their choice, the fledging Methodists brought a ship full of lumber down from Maine to build their meeting house. The lumber was taken from the beach by an unruly crowd and taken to High Pole Hill (site of the current Pilgrim monument) and burned. The crowd also burned Jesse Lee, a Methodist minister, in effigy.
The Methodists brought in another load of lumber and the first Methodist meeting house was built while loyalists stood guard.
The acceptance of the doctrines of the church rose and fell as did opposition. At one point, fish heads were piled on the beach so boys could pelt the devout on their way to church. On the other hand, Town Meeting, in its current wisdom, decreed that in the absence of a regular minister at the Congregational church, a Methodist minister would preside. Several Methodist meeting houses and churches ensued.
In 1860, the Center Methodist Episcopal Church was built on the corner of Commercial and Center Streets. The sanctuary in that church could accommodate 800 people. The organ there was a replica of one which Bach composed. The Center Street church continued in operation until 1958 when the costs of upkeep were too much for members to shoulder. The church was sold to Walter Chrysler, became the town owned Heritage Museum and then and now the Town Library.
Another Methodist church was completed in 1908 at Winthrop and Commercial Streets. The two churches merged until 1944 when the Winthrop Street church was closed. Following the 1958 closure of the downtown church, the current location was selected and the present United Methodist Church was constructed and dedicated on Easter Sunday in 1960.
The present church has been successively led by the Reverends Gilman Lane, Edgar Reed, David Beach, Paul Pearson, Richard Dean, Frank Klausman, Deborah Holt, James Cox, Gary Nettleton and presently James Cox.