Then and Now: Howard Church before the most recent restoration and in May 2026
On February 1. 1898 Lewis L. Freeman conveyed a parcel of land to the Free Methodist Church for the purpose of building a church building. He likewise conveyed a parcel of land to the Free
Methodist Church which was used as a building site for a parsonage. Both parcels were included in an early surveyed subdivision known as Howard. Colorado.
Newspaper accounts indicate that the frame church building was constructed in 1898 with the members providing the work crew. Photographs ca. 1900 reflect that the church was constructed
in the present location at 0070 County Road #56.
The parsonage may have been constructed a few years later. One early reference mentions a log cabin in back of the church. The block structure at 5547 County Road #45 served as the
parsonage for many years. No photograph confirming date of construction for the parsonage has been located.
Lewis Freeman purchased the property from the Free Methodist Church on September 30, 1940 and thence has been conveyed down to the present owner. During the Great Depression the membership of this little church were no longer able to support a preacher and no work was available to him in the area. Consequently, the church was abandoned by the Free Methodist Conference. Local lay leaders carried on Sunday School in the building into the late 1940s. In 1988 a group of concerned citizens organized and began restoration of the historic church building.
The Rocky Mountain Conference of the Free Methodist Church conveyed title to the parcel including the church building to the Western Fremont Historical Society on April 23, 1999
Shared by the Western Fremont Historical Society on their Facebook page, June 3, 2026