HISTORY

The Gammon-Resurrection Story

The work of the Methodist Episcopal Church began on the Westside of Chicago in 1903. During the fall of that year, a canvass was taken of Rev. John W. Robinson, the pastor of St. Mark Church at 47th ad State Street. To find if there an interest in establishing a new Methodist Church on the Westside, in 1904, Rev. John B. Redmond, the assistant pastor at St. Mark, was appointed to a secure a place on the west side of the city. Mrs. Caroline Spears, her daughter , Mrs. Lanky, Mrs. Lydia Bundy, al Methodists use their homes for Sunday and church services until a building was secured at 174 W. Fulton St.

Rev, Redmond accepted appointment in Washing D.C. , and Rev. I.F. White became a pastor and served until December 1, 1904 Rev. D.H.V. Purnell from the Ohio district was appointed to complete the year and reappointed for an additional two years. During this time the building at 1742. W. Fulton was purchased and named Scott's Chapel in honor of our bishop I.B. Scott, who was appointed as a missionary from our church to Africa. In 1908, Rev. Harry M. Carroll of Kentucky was appointed pastor. The membership increased to 250, therefore on Sunday, November 16, 1913, the church was moved to 2319 W. Fulton St. The building was obtained with the assistance of Dr. James Rowe and the city Chicago City Mission Society. On October 26, 1919 a new pipe organ was installed and a grand opening was held. The choir was directed by Professor Hugh Buchanan and Earl Williams was the organist.

In 1926, a great disaster occurred. A fire destroyed the Fulton street church. The congregation rented the first floor from a C.M.E. Church at Damen and Maypole. However, within a few months, it became known that the C.M.E. Congregation was about to lose the property, Fulton Street Church was able to purchase the building. Rev. I.G. Penn Jr. was pastor at this time. It was decided in 1939 to change the church's name from Fulton Street Church, since it was no longer located on Fulton St. The name Gammon was recommended by Rev. David M. Jordan, the pastor at this time and a graduate of the Gammon Theological Seminary. The committee accepted the name in recognition of all the contributions of Rev. Elijah H. Gammon, a Caucasian minister made to the African American Community.

In 1968, the Methodist Episcopal Church merged with the Evangelical Untied Brethren Church and Gammon became Gammon Memorial United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Dr. Gladstone Wells came to Gammon on June 14, 1970. Under his leadership, Gammon held its final services at the old church and Rev. Wells led a motorcade to the new church location at 502 N. Central Ave. on June 24, 1973. Membership greatly increased and five choral groups were organized. After Rev. Well's untimely death, they were shepherded by Pastor Rev. Harry Gibson Jr. Rev. Dr. Henry Young served as our interim Pastor until Rev. John H. Jackson Jr's appointment in 1988.

Rev. Dr. Donald F. Guest, our next succeeding pastor, initiated new ministries and strengthened existing ministries. Rev. Norval I. Brown appoin4ed in 1994, led us as we housed an emergency 24-hour "warming center and shelter." Despite leaving the building at 502 N. Central, Rev. Marie Carlson, our next pastor maintained our congregation by finding alternative worship sites and holding creative spiritual worship services.

Rev. Dr. Eugene Blair became our pastor in 2000. We continued to worship at alternate locations, including Olivet Untied Methodist Church and Douglass Middle School. We began a new evangelical focus. "Believe and Start Living Again." This new focus caused a revitalization of our spirits and inspired a resurrected congregation as Gammon Memorial United Methodist Church became Resurrection Methodist Church. Though it was difficult to leave to the leave the west side, we moved to our current location at 5717 W. 63rd Place with new possibilities and support from the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church. Some of the outreach programs initiated were a Children's and Youth Outreach Ministry, Food Pantry, and an after school tutoring program. In January of 2004, we welcomed Rev. Charles Murray as pastor who managed and maintained our established ministries and gave us the ministerial focus of "Forging Forward, Leaving No One Behind". We are now under the new leadership of Pastor Dwayne L. Grant who was appointed to our church in September of 2007. Pastor Grant has helped us develop new vision and mission statements as we refocus, renew and restore our plan to relocate to the Austin community. Pastor Grant's new evangelical focus for RUMC is "Honoring our past. Grasping our present. Yet reaching for our future."