The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the first Methodist denomination founded in the United States. In the early 19th century, it was the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. The Methodist Episcopal Church existed from 1784 until 1939, when it merged with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and the Methodist Protestant Church to form the Methodist Church. In 1968, the Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form the present-day United Methodist Church.