Methodist Episcopal Church
Peak Enrollment 127 in 1915
1870 – 1957

This is the oldest extant Protestant church building in Utah. It was dedicated by Chaplain C. C. McCabe and Reverend G. M. Peirce on September 20, 1870.

Corinne Historical Society
This bell was brought to Corinne by Hyrum House to warn the community at times when the water was to be shut off. In 1896 it was used to ring in the Statehood for the State of Utah. It was rung so hard that day, that it cracked, then was placed on a rafter, where it balanced for 100 years. It was discovered by the Corinne Historical Society, and removed from the court house and then placed on a trailer and shown through out the county in 1996. And then was mounted here in November 2006.

Located at 3995 West 2300 North in Corinne, Utah

The Corinne Methodist Episcopal Church, located at 3995 West 2300 North in Corinne, Utah was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#71000842) on May 14, 1971. The text below is from the nomination form from when it was added to the register.

Corinne, Utah lays claim to several distinctive features. It was Utah’s First “Gentile” City, having been dreamed of in 1868, but born and built during March and April, 1869, when the Union Pacific Railroad tracks reached there, It was the last U.P.R.R. track town on the transcontinental line, having 1500 inhabitants within a month and 3,000 by the end of April, It was laid out by J. E. Hause, chief engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad. Its name came either from Corinne Williamson, daughter of General J. A. Williamson, and the first white child born in the new town or from the actress who performed there on several occasions, Corinne LaVaunt.

By February, 1870, Corinne had been incorporated. Within another year an all gentile “school,” taught by Mr. A. B. Glockner, reported to have been Utah’s first “free public education” system, was organized. In addition, being a non-Mormon community of size and promise, Corinne is claimed as the birthplace of Utah’s American Liberal Party. The town asked to be made Utah’s capital and later to be annexed to Idaho.

Corinne is distinctive in Utah, because it was settled rapidly by non-Mormons. Within two years three protestant and one Catholic church had been organized. The first church in this “City of the Un-Godly,” probably was the Corinne Methodist Church; Reverend G. M. Pierce delivered his first sermon June 15, 1870, in the opera house, sought donations, and soon raised $4,000 for construction of the church. It was dedicated September 20, 1870.

Corinne retained a prominence as the northern-most point of the transcontinental railroad. However, in time, Ogden became the junction for the Utah Northern Railroad, which replaced the lucrative freighting enterprise centered at Corinne. Later, when Lucin Cutoff crossed the Great Salt Lake south of Promontory, the traffic through Corinne was further reduced.

The town held on and at times has been revived somewhat by mining and irrigated farming booms. Today it is the center of a small farming community.

Corinne was unusual. It represents the first Gentile inroad into Utah. Here the protestants first undertook to “convert” the Mormons. The old church today remains as the only tangible reminder of that role and that era.