Located on the Western Slope
of Colorado, St. Matthew's in Grand Junction was founded in 1890 as
part of the Missionary District of Colorado. Due to the difficulty
of travel from the Front Range to the Western Slope, the State of
Colorado was divided into two Districts. In 1892, St. Matthew's
became part of the Missionary District of Western Colorado, which
was renamed the Missionary District of Salt Lake in 1898. In 1919
St. Matthew's was reunited with the present day Diocese of Colorado.
In those early years clergy leadership was sporadic. It wasn't until
1900 that St. Matthew's began a continuous tenure of priests.
The original church was built at the
corner of Fourth and White Streets in 1891. It was a wooden
structure consisting of a sanctuary, which seated about 80 people, a
small parish hall with kitchen, and office. Following the end of
World War II, St. Matthew's moved to a new location at the corner of
North Avenue and College Place in anticipation of the influx of new
young families returning to Grand Junction to settle. The first
services in the new church were held on April 3, 1949. This brick
structure included a 200-seat sanctuary, parish hall, Sunday school
classrooms and office space. Over the next 50 years St. Matthew's
was a vibrant parish community, weathering two substantial economic
depressions from the uranium and oil shale busts. In the late 1990s
St. Matthew's was being enveloped into the campus of Mesa State
College, making any expansion for growth and parking unavailable. In
response, St. Matthew's moved to its current location in 2000.
Today St. Matthew's Church is a parish of approximately 600 members. Our
members range in age from infant to some in their 90's. We enjoy
persons from all walks of life. St. Matthew's is a growing,
welcoming congregation that seeks to meet everyone where ever they
may be in their spiritual walks.
