File:First United Methodist Church, Town of Batavia, New York - 20221027.jpg

English: First United Methodist Church, 8221 Lewiston Road, Batavia, New York, October 2022. Designed by architect Roger Patterson of the Buffalo-based firm of Shelgren, Patterson & Marzec, this handsome brown brick edifice sports an eye-catching Modernist design whose cruciform floor plan is plainly visible from above: the ridges of the roof atop the sanctuary take the form of a Greek cross with a slender, needlelike spire at the center, while its curved slopes along with the narrow columns of windows on the façade serve to accentuate the verticality of the design. Contrasting with this is the horizontal orientation and flat roof of the building's east wing, which houses administrative and classroom space. The third-oldest (and second-oldest existing) religious congregation in the city, First Methodist was founded in 1819, about a decade after Batavia first became an itinerary on the route of the so-called Circuit Riders: an informal group of missionary preachers who traveled around the small communities of Western New York, then an isolated frontier wilderness, holding services wherever they could find available space. After several decades meeting in various rented locations including the county courthouse and a log schoolhouse, First Methodist constructed its first purpose-built church in 1841, which they duly replaced in 1869 with an imposing building - the tallest in Genesee County at the time, it's said - on East Main Street on what's now the site of the Genesee Family YMCA, which would serve as their home for over a century. As for their present building, the process of planning, designing and construction began in 1963, when - in response to increasingly cramped conditions in their downtown church, and in acknowledgement of the impending urban renewal scheme which would eventually see much of the north side of Main Street demolished and replaced with a suburban-style shopping mall - a congregational committee approved a proposal to acquire land for a new building. The purchase of the 10-acre former farmstead of James Corwin Jacks, located adjacent to the Thruway about three-quarters of a mile outside the city line, was approved in October of the following year by the church's quarterly conference, and as the architect began preparing blueprints, the church set about fundraising. However, it was not until December 1969 that the cornerstone for the new building (which contained a variety of mementoes from its long history) was laid, and December 1970 when dedication ceremonies finally took place.