dec 31, 1886 - St. John the Divine

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St. John the Divine built 1887 (starting as Metropolitan Methodist Church): Built in 1887 2511 METROPOLITAN AVE as the Metropolitan Methodist Church, the original wood frame and clapboard chapel was severely damaged in the 1903 Flood. The building was restored from 1903 to 1909 with funds raised nationally through an appeal in the Central Christian Advocate. From 1909 to 1913, the church was remodeled and faced with brick. After the 1951 Flood, the church was restored and consolidated with the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

For more than 50 years, St. John the Divine served as the centerpiece of religious life for the Mexican-American Catholic community of the Argentine neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas. In 1937 Bishop Francis Johannes of the Catholic diocese arranged to purchase the building from the Metropolitan Methodist Church in order to serve the growing Mexican-American population in Argentine. St. John the Divine was designated a mission of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the segregated Mexican American parish in Armourdale, a working-class neighborhood on the opposite side of the Kansas River. The congregation was led by Mount Carmel's parish priest, who celebrated the first mass at St. John the Divine on December 12, 1937, the day of a traditional Mexican religious feast honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The 1951 Flood on Black Friday, July 13, left much of Armourdale and Argentine in ruins. During the flood, Our Lady of Mount Carmel suffered a structural collapse. As a result, the diocese demolished that building and consolidated the two parishes, and restored and expanded the St. John the Divine building, which had also suffered moderate but less significant damage during the flood. Fr. Gabriel Perez celebrated the first mass in the renovated parish on August 15, barely a month after the disaster. From modest beginnings, St. John the Divine was gradually adorned with sacred objects and furnishings, including chandeliers and religious statues imported from Spain. A stained-glass image of La Virgen de Guadalupe was imported from Mexico and installed in the Gothic nave window. Around 1960, the plaster apse wall was covered in inlaid wood paneling resembling the interior of the nearby Augustinian Recollect Monastery. An electric bell that imitates the bells of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome was donated and installed in the church tower. Church building was destroyed by a fire on March 3rd, 2020. Due to declining membership in the parish, around 1992, St. John the Divine was closed and the parish was consolidated with St. John the Evangelist, Argentine's original Catholic parish. 2511 METROPOLITAN AVE Source: https://khri.kansasgis.org/

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