16 East Liberty Street

On your right is Trinity Methodist Church, a pivotal building. It was organized in Yorkville in 1824 by Reverend William Gassaway. It was the first denominational organization to occupy the field and the first organized Methodist Church in York County.

The first house of worship for Trinity was built in 1826. The plain wooden building, with an outside entry to the gallery where the slaves entered for worship, was located on Jefferson Street where College Street now intersects. The church grew and, in 1829, established one of the first three Sunday Schools in the state.

The War Between the States caused a scattering of members and a decline in membership.

By 1882 the church had recovered and outgrown its building. The congregation purchased a building formerly occupied as the Independent Presbyterian Church, located in front of Rose Hill Cemetery (8). This building had a seating capacity of three hundred.

Construction of the present church was begun in 1890 and the building was first occupied in 1891.