It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1984 as First Methodist Episcopal Church, which is its original name.

[1] The congregation was organized through a series of Bible Study meetings that were held in Rathburn Cabin in 1845.

The first church building for the congregation was constructed in 1848 on Fifth Street, south of Walnut, and a larger brick structure was built on the same site in 1856.

[2] A major restoration of the building was completed in 1940 with a new chancel and altar, rose window, a new pew arrangement, and a renewal of the pipe organ.

[3] The congregation hired the prominent Des Moines architectural firm of Proudfoot & Bird to design the present church.

The Neoclassical-style building features a symmetrical plan in monumental proportions, a large pedimented portico supported by Ionic columns, plain exterior surfaces of Bedford stone, and a Roman glass and copper dome that is capped by a Latin cross.