A Glimpse of History

It was on June 28, 1950, that Dr. Oliver Keve, Superintendent of the St. Joseph district, presided at a Quarterly Conference of a small number of Methodist who had seen the need for a Methodist Church in the Northland area of Kansas City. At this meeting, the Gladstone Community Methodist Church was officially organized. When the city limits of Gladstone were drawn and did not include the church site, the name was changed to North Cross. Reverend Roland Boone was the church’s first pastor.

For the first few years, the young church met at the White Chapel Memorial Gardens office. Recognizing the need for a church building of their own, a tract of land was purchased from Mr. W. Campbell Davidson. Ground was broken for the first unit of the building on Jun 21, 1953. On Christmas Eve of that year, the first service was held in the new building, although it was not yet completed. One hundred twenty persons were present for the first Sunday worship service on the first Sunday of 1954.

By 1956, additional space was needed for the growing congregation, and on July 1st of that year, ground was broken for an addition which included 12,000 square feet. The cornerstone was laid on November 1, 1956. The Breyfogle Memorial tower was dedicated in March of 1957 in memory of Forest Dean Breyfogle. In 1959 Rev. Boone was succeeded by Dr. Herbert C. White as pastor. It was also in that year that plans were begun for the third phase of the building, the educational wing. The unit was formally opened on November 26, 1961.