In a tent meeting on the corner of 38th and Washington (the current CWC location), in 1895, people gathered under the evangelistic preaching of Rev. Cyrus Bilheimer and Rev. Anna Linville. Weekly worship services were held for the next two months.

In November, at the home of Mrs. Able, the organization was effected and became known as South Marion Wesleyan Methodist Church.  The church united with Pleasant Plain, Plummer Chapel, and Fairview churches and Rey Bilheimer was sent by the conference to pastor the church for the next two years.

Current events leading up to 1895:

1890 – Artist Van Gogh died (b. 1853).

         – Idaho & Wyoming entered the Union as the 44th & 45th states.

1891 – The game of basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith.

         – Author Conan Doyle submitted the first six Sherlock Holmes stories to the Strand Magazine.

1892 – The first Ellis Island Immigration Station was officially opened. That first day, three large ships were waiting to land, and 700 immigrants passed through Ellis Island.

         – J. R. R. Tolkien was born.

1895

• First U.S. Open Golf Championship held after the game was first introduced to America 10 years earlier by John M. Fox after a trip to Scotland.

• The First professional football game is played in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

• Frederick Douglass dies.

• First U.S. patent for the automobile is granted to George B. Selden for his two stroke automobile engine.

• Oscar Hammerstein opens the first theatre, Olympia, in the Times Square section of New York City.

• Tchaikovsky writes, “Swan Lake,” ballet.

U.S. President throughout time at location: 
   #24. Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)

The year following the tent meeting, a small brick building was constructed on Boots Street and the congregation worshipped there for the next 24 years.  South Marion Wesleyan Methodist Church was officially claimed part of the Marion Circuit in 1902 and remained as such until 1917 when it was declared a “station” by the conference.

The faithful congregation struggled to pay their portion ($8.50) of the pastor’s salary each week and in the minutes of 1917, it was sorrowfully noted that the church was $23 behind in their payments.  Offerings averaged $45 a month with a noted one-time low bank balance of $1.15.

1896

• The first modern Olympic games takes place in Athens, Greece.

• Utah joins the Union.

• Plessy versus Ferguson decision by the Supreme Court states that racial segregation is approved under the “separate but equal” doctrine.

• Gillbert and Sullivan write their last comic operettas, “The Grand Duke.”

Events occurring throughout time at location:

1897 – The first Boston Marathon is held.

1898 – C. S. Lewis is born.

1899 – Mount Rainier National Park established in Washington State.

1901 – Walt Disney is born.

1903 – Wright brothers make the first controlled, sustained flight at Kitty Hawk.

1906 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer is born.  

1907 – Oklahoma enters the Union as 46th state.

1908 – The FBI is established.

1912 – New Mexico & Arizona enter the Union as the 47th & 48th states.

         – The RMS Titanic catastrophically sinks on her maiden voyage.

1913 – Rosa Parks is born.

1914 – “World War I” (-1918)

1915 – First long distance telephone service between New York City and San Francisco is demonstrated.

1918 – Billy Graham is born.

         – Worldwide influenza epidemic strikes, by 1920, nearly 20 million dead.

1919 – The House of Representatives and the Senate two weeks later passed the 19th amendment, permitting women to vote.

U.S. Presidents throughout time at location: 
   #24. Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)
   #25. William McKinley (1897-1901)
   #26. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
   #27. William Taft (1909-1913)
   #28. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)

By 1920, with the dedication of Marion College, many people were re-locating to the Marion area and the Boots Street church was no longer large enough for the growing congregation. Marion College graciously offered their chapel space (now the Administration Building at Indiana Wesleyan University) to accommodate the church’s attendance.

The pastor’s salary was raised to $25 a week and the custodian’s pay went from $1.00 to $4.00 a week. 

1920

• The final state ratifies the 19th amendment allowing all women in the United States to vote.

• U.S. sustains the worst terrorist attack in its history up to this point when a horse-drawn cart carrying a massive, improvised explosive is detonated on the busiest corner on Wall Street.

• League of Nations is established.

Events occurring throughout time at location:

1927 – Charles Lindbergh makes first solo transatlantic flight in his plane The Spirit of St. Louis.

1929 – Martin Luther King Jr. is born.

          – “The Great Depression” (-1933)

1931 – The Stars-Spangled Banner is adopted as the national anthem.

1932 – First woman elected to US Senate.

          – Amelia Earhart completes first solo transatlantic flight by a woman.

1936 – King Edward VIII abdicates the throne and is succeeded by his younger brother, George VI.

U.S. Presidents throughout time at location: 
   #28. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
   #29. Warren Harding (1921-1923)
   #30. Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)
   #31. Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)
   #32. Franklin Roosevelt (1933-1945)

As growth continued, the need for a new church building became evident in the mid 1930s. So with generous belief and gifts totaling $22,200 from Horace and John D. Williams, the congregation was assured now was the time to build. 

Ground was first broken at 40th and Washington (the current location of IWU’s Elder Hall) on April 23, 1938 and the cornerstone (which is now set in the current CWC atrium garden area) was laid on May 27, 1938.  Just four months later, Conference President E.J. Pitts, preached the dedication sermon. 

South Marion Wesleyan Methodist Church, often referred to as “The College Church,” presented a request to the Conference in 1939, and changed the church name to The College Wesleyan Methodist Church of Marion. 

The “new” church, with seating for 300, was completely paid off by June of 1942. The building would eventually be sold to Marion College and become “McConn Chapel” (1961).

1938

• The final state ratifies the 19th amendment allowing all women in the United States to vote.

• U.S. sustains the worst terrorist attack in its history up to this point when a horse-drawn cart carrying a massive, improvised explosive is detonated on the busiest corner on Wall Street.

• League of Nations is established.

Events occurring throughout time at location:

1939 – Hitler’s Nazi Germany invades Poland forcing allies to acknowledge that Hitler had greater intentions to occupy Europe leading to “World War II” (-1945).

1941 – Pearl Harbor is attacked.

1945 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer is executed by the Nazis.

1947 – “The Cold War” (-1991)

1950 – “The Korean War” (-1953)

1959 – Alaska & Hawaii enter the Union as the 49th & 50th states.

U.S. Presidents throughout time at location: 
   #32. Franklin Roosevelt (1933-1945)
   #33. Harry Truman (1945-1953)
   #34. Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961)

The following years brought much growth in all areas; mission-giving, attendance, and financial stability.  With the hiring of an assistant pastor in 1955, membership near 300, and Sunday School attendance over 300, it once again became clear that a new building was needed.  So in 1956, the campaign to raise $100,000 was successful and land along Selby Street (near the current location of IWU’s Ott Hall) was purchased from Marion College. 

With great hope and anticipation, the burgeoning congregation worshipped in their new 700-seat sanctuary for the first time, on July 30, 1961.

1961

• East Germany erects the Berlin Wall, dividing East and West Germany.

• UN General Assembly condemns apartheid in South Africa

• American-backed Cuban exiles fail in an attempt to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.

• Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin completes the first orbit of Earth by a human

Events occurring throughout time at location:

1963 – Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech.

          – President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.

          – C. S. Lewis dies.

1964 – President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act.

1965 – Voting Rights Act—prohibiting racial discrimination in voting—is signed into law.

          – “Vietnam War” (-1975) 

1966 – Aberfan disaster in South Wales.

1968 – Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated. 

          – Karl Barth dies.

1969 – Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr. become the first men to land on the moon.

1973 – J. R. R. Tolkien dies.

1986 – Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff. 

1989 – The Berlin Wall comes down. 

1999 – Shooting at Columbine High School

2001 – Terrorist attack ends in catastrophe at World Trade Centers, Pentagon, and plane crash in rural Pennsylvania.

2004 – The “Boxing Day Tsunami” 

2005 – Rosa Parks dies.

U.S. Presidents throughout time at location: 
   #35. John Kennedy (1961-1963)
   #36. Lyndon Johnson (1963-1969)
   #37. Richard Nixon (1969-1974)
   #38. Gerald Ford (1974-1977)
   #39. Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
   #40. Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
   #41. George Bush (1989-1993)
   #42. Billl Clinton (1993-2001)
   #43. George W. Bush (2001-2009)

As Marion College (re-named Indiana Wesleyan University in 1988) continued to grow and attendance at the Selby location increased, it became apparent once again, that in spite of holding two morning worship services and implementing “venue” services throughout the church, a larger facility was needed.  In fact, to accommodate the number of people attending each week, services were held in the IWU gymnasium for a few months while the current church was being constructed. 

Following the ground-breaking on April 2, 2006, the congregation—now averaging 1500 people each Sunday—enjoyed their first worship service in the 1000 seat sanctuary on November 18, 2007 and had a service of dedication the following year (April 2008).

2008

• “The Great Recession”

• Kosovo formally declares independence from Serbia.

• SpaceX Falcon 1 becomes the world’s first privately developed space launch vehicle to successfully make orbit.

• The Spotify music streaming service is initially launched in Sweden, making its way to the U.S. in 2011.

• Barak Obama becomes the first black U.S. presidential candidate to be elected.

Events occurring throughout time at location:

2010 – Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster

2013 – Boston Marathon bombing

2015 – Charleston Church shooting

2018 – Billy Graham dies.

U.S. Presidents throughout time at location: 
   #43. George W. Bush (2001-2009)
   #44. Barack Obama (2009-2017)
   #45. Donald Trump (2017-)