On October 27, 1880, several members of Welsh descent began holding Sunday evening prayer meetings at the home of Mr. D. H. Evans. They soon began to rent the Norwegian Church on 19th Avenue South, between 5th and 6th Streets. They organized their church in April 1881, at the corner of Franklin and Bloomington Avenues. At this time, the church was likely called the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church.
The congregation erected a church on 17th Avenue South near Franklin, moving in on April 1, 1883. Atwater, writing in 1893, indicates that by then the congregation was called the Welsh Presbyterian Church (although the 1936 WPA report indicates that the name/denomination change occurred in 1935). Also, according to Atwater, the congregation numbered about 200 members in 1893. The congregation moved again to a new church on 15th Avenue near Lake Street, selling the 17th Avenue church on September 10, 1911.