One of the items noted by the writers of the American Guide Series book,
Washington: a guide to the Evergreen state was the 1920
Methodist Episcopal Church, originally known as the
First Methodist Episcopal Church.
OKANOGAN, 51.8 m. (829 alt., 1,735 pop.), the center of government in Okanogan County since 1915, is also headquarters for the Chelan National Forest. Though less populous than Omak, it has a larger and more impressive business district. The six blocks of brick and frame buildings occupy a narrow valley on a delta bar, at the mouth of Salmon Creek. The Okanogan River winds slowly and quietly a few hundred feet left of Second Avenue, the main thorough fare. Across a steel bridge spanning the stream are rows of warehouses, packing plants, and the railroad tracks.
On Queen Street, one block right of the highway, is the FIRST METHODIST CHURCH, a building of unusual design, faced with stones of varying shapes and sizes.
From Washington: a guide to the Evergreen state
While construction on the church began, and the cornerstone was laid, in 1920, completion and dedication came about the next year, in 1921. The church was built entirely of local Okanogan River rock, with larger rock on the bottom and the smallest at the top. The larger bottom rocks appear to continue downward becoming the building's foundation. While devoid of steeple or bell tower, this is, nonetheless, an impressive and attractive building. Given its origin, we have to say that a more inexpensive construction material would have been impossible to find in the area in 1920, or at any time, for that matter.
The church was built just two blocks southeast of the 1915 Spanish mission style Okanogan County Courthouse and emulates its style with a Spanish mission parapet over the entrance and low arched windows, with a few rectangular windows with stone lintels scattered about the exterior. Several steps above street level and behind a cobblestone facade, the church's main entrance has double slab wood doors with hammered copper forming a large tree which covers essentially the entirety of the two doors. The doors are framed by a simple arched and beveled concrete frame.