“The Center Methodist Church or Center Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1860. It was said to be the largest church of Methodist denomination anywhere in the United States. It cost $22,000 to complete, and had room to seat 900 people in 128 pews. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The church moved to a new building in 1955, and the building has changed hands several times since.

In 1958, the building was sold for $40,000 to Walter P. Chrysler Jr. – the son of Walter Chrysler, the founder of the Chrysler Corporation – for use as the Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown. Chrysler continued to run the museum with limited success until he closed it in 1970. In 1971, he moved his collection to Virginia.

A major addition to the building came about in 1977, during the Heritage Museum’s stewardship. That addition is a half-scale replica of Provincetown’s Grand Banks fishing schooner, the Rose Dorothea. On August 1, 1907, the Rose Dorothea won the Lipton’s Cup, despite breaking one of her masts, in the first and only Fisherman’s Race, a 42-mile race from Provincetown to Gloucester to Boston.

The Heritage Museum operated on a seasonal basis with a minimal staff and a group of volunteers through the summer of 2000, and in 2001, the Town voted to convey this property to the Provincetown Public Library. In 2002 renovations began to convert the building into the Provincetown Public Library. Upon completion the Provincetown Public Library would move into this building from another historic building.”

What a historic place to visit! Put it on your “Provincetown To-Do List!