Church History :

The Methodist presence in White Swan started in 1859 when the Reverend James Harvey Wilbur (1811-1887), better known as "Father Wilbur", a Methodist Episcopal minister, came to Fort Simcoe as a missionary. Father Wilbur was a major influence in the lives of the Indian people of the Yakama Reservation. He served as pastor from 1859-1882.

Father Wilbur not only organized and supervised the building of the first school in the White Swan area in 1861, but he also established the Methodist congregation, which included Yakatawit and Delia, Joe and Susan Stwire, Thomas and Katie Pearne, Joseph and Susan Simcoe, George and Nancy Waters, Coke and Sallie Helm.

Thomas Pearne and George Waters became the first ordained Indian ministers in the Northwest Methodist Conference. In 1889 there were nearly 800 church members.

A fire in 1937 destroyed the building and a new church structure was built later that year. In the 1950's several classrooms were constructed. By 1963, the membership was 116 with a Sunday School enrollment of 125.

In January 1996, the General Board of Global Ministries reinstated Wilbur Memorial as a Native American Church site.