Wesley Mem was founded in March 1954, with the
Rev. C. Warner Crumb as its first pastor. In June of that year, the present site was purchased and worship services were moved from the Venable School building to the University of Virginia chapel until the first service was held in our present sanctuary, Sunday, February 24, 1957.

The construction of the Education Building was completed in March, 1964. The purchase of adjacent property in 1966 gave the church, along with the Wesley Foundation, ownership of the block of land between Thomson and Lewis Mountain Roads, fronting on Emmet Street. Cottages on this property (now including 1913 Thomson Road, purchased in 1989) have been used as student housing for those in the Wesley Residential Community, a group of University men and women related to both church and Foundation.