The First United Methodist Church is one of Mississippi's most outstanding examples of Romanesque Revival architecture. Its significance is based not only on the high quality of its architecture but also on its outstanding integrity, which is unusual for an architectural style that so often suffers from the removal of the towers and other ornamentation so characteristic of the Romanesque Revival Style. The church was constructed in 1898 during the midst of one of the city's worst yellow fever epidemics and was designed by Reuben Harris Hunt of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Hunt was the designer of the most notable buildings constructed in Greenwood, which include the First Baptist Church (being demolished), the Leflore County Courthouse, the First Methodist Church, and a Romanesque school building that burned. All of these buildings were constructed between 1898 and 1910, a boom period for the city of Greenwood. The Sunday school addition to the east was constructed in 1924 and was designed by Frank R McGeoy, a native of Memphis, Tennessee. McGeoy designed many local landmark buildings in Greenwood, including the Beaman House, the temple for Congregation Ahavath Rayim, and the Wesley Methodist Church on Howard Street. - NRHP, 30 September 1985