In 1867 Judge William B. Hay settled on a farm about 2 miles north of the present town of Tracy. He organized a Sunday school class that met in the Willow District School that stood where now the “Y” just across the tracks west of town is. These were the first religious services held in this section of the valley. He drove a span of horses with a farm wagon with chairs for his passengers.
When the Willow District School was moved to the new town of Tracy, the Judge again held Sunday school in the schoolhouse. The school was located on the southwest corner of Central Avenue and 11th Street, where the Tracy Inn was later located. Later he held Sunday school in the Lammersville schoolhouse near Bethany. The Judge sold his first farm and bought Tracy property.
During 1890, Judge Hay invited the Reverend Jeffery, pastor of the Methodist Church in Newman to hold services in Tracy. These were held in the parlor of the Hay home, but it proved too small and Judge Hay started plans for a church.