History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 154

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

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1701

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

Old and New School was raging in the Eastern States, and making itself felt throughout the West, although the actual separation did not take place in Missouri until 1841. At this time Dr. Potts was recognized as the leader of the Old School and Dr. Bullard as the leader of the New. Each of the two schools went on its own way, organizing new churches, forming new presbyteries, and carrying on missionary work,-the Old School through the Board of Mis- sions, and the New through the American Home Missionary Society. Between the years 1830 and 1840 a remarkable religious agitation occurred in the western part of Germany, especially in the duchy of Lippe-Detmold. In nearly every village and town the people left the established Lutheran Church and formed themselves into conventicles, prayer-meetings, and worshiping assemblies. They were severely per- secuted by the ruling clergy, and in 1849 a num- ber of peasant families emigrated and settled in Gas- conade County, Mo. They were not acquainted with the character of the religious denominations in the country, but were at length directed to the Presby- terian Church as the one with which they most nearly affiliated. Soon afterwards they were organized into the Bethel Church by the Presbytery of St. Louis, Old School. Since then they have grown to large proportions as a denomination.

In 1857 began the long series of troubles growing out of the question of slavery, to which institution the New School was known to be opposed, whereas in the Old School there was but little discussion on the subject. Hence, in Missouri, many persons left the New School for the Old, and the New School was gradually cut off from all missionary work. During the war it dwindled to such insignificant proportions that the total extinction of its Synod in, Missouri was generally expected ; but when the war had ended it was still,intact, and started anew with fresh life and undiminished zeal. When the secession of the South- ern States from the Union took place the Presbyte- rians in those States organized a Southern General Assembly, and in 1866 the Missouri Presbyterians of Southern sympathies separated from the Old School Synod and organized the Independent Synod of Mis- souri, which is now connected with the Southern General Assembly. In 1870 the Old and New School branches of the General Assembly came together and reorganized as one body, and in the same year the same reunion was effected in the Missouri Synod. The Synod of Missouri is now divided into the fol- lowing presbyteries : St. Louis (southeastern part of the State), Ozark (southwestern part), Osage (cen- tral part; Jefferson City to Kansas City), Platte 108

(northwestern part), and Palmyra (northeastern part). According to the last report this Synod has 215 churches, 134 ministers, 11,667 members, and 15,702 Sunday-school members, and had expended during the year $19,657 for congregational, and $37,- 336 for benevolent and other uses. The Presbytery of St. Louis reported 50 churches, 44 ministers, 4183 members, 6714 Sunday-school members, $88,126 spent for congregational, and $27,293 for benevolent and missionary uses. The Independent (or Southern) Synod reported 129 churches, 74 ministers, 7761 members, 4100 Sunday-school menbers, $52,316 for congregational, and $15,672 for benevolent uses. It is divided into the St. Louis, Lafayette, Missouri, Palmyra, and Potosi Presbyteries. St. Louis Pres- bytery reported 24 churches, 17 ministers, 1513 members, 902 Sunday-school members, $19,297 for congregational, and $5387 for other uses.

An important institution of the denomination in St. Louis is the Depository of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1107 Olive Street, which was estab- lished as a missionary department of the board in 1874 under charge of Rev. R. Irwin, D.D. Dr. Irwin was succeeded, Sept. 1, 1880, by the Rev. J. W. Allen, D.D., up to that date editor and publisher of the St. Louis Evangelist (which he established in 1874), and of which he continues to be the publisher. At the Synod which met in October, 1882, the scope of the institution was enlarged, and from a missionary department it was raised to the rank of a branch depository of the board of publication, with a capital stock of fifteen thousand dollars. In the upper rooms of the spacious building are held the Monday morning meetings of the Presbyterian Ministerial Association, and the mectings of the Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions for the Southwest, which was organized about six years ago and has now about two hundred and fifty auxiliaries.

The First Presbyterian Church, situated at the northwest corner of Fourteenth Street and Lucas Place, Rev. Hervey D. Ganse, D.D., pastor, was organ- ized by Rev. Salmon Giddings, Nov. 15, 1817, at which date the following document was drawn up and signed : " Being desirous of enjoying the benefits of the ordinances of religion which God has instituted, and in order to maintain divine and public worship, live more to His glory, and promote each other's grace and spiritual comfort, we, the undersigned, mutually unite together in church relation and covenant, known by the name of the First Presbyterian Church of St. Louis. We also solemnly covenant, before God, to be the Lord's ; to watch over each other in the Lord ; to conduct as God shall give us grace, in the spirit of

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

Christian meckness ; to walk as becometh saints be- forc the world; to maintain the worship of God in our families, and to attend to all the ordinances and means of grace which God hath appointed to be ob- served in His church. We take the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments for the rule of our faith and practice, and the Confession of Faith, as revised and adopted by the Presbyterian Churches in America, as the best summary and explanation thereof." The

paper was signed by ten persons : Stephen Hempstead, Mary Hempstead, Britannia Brown, Chloc Reed, Mary Kceny, Magdalen Scott, Thomas Osborne, Susanna Osborne, Susan Gratiot, and Sarah Becbe. Hempstead and Osborne, the only male members, were ordained ruling elders on November 23d, and the services of the church were thenceforth regularly held in Rev. Salmon Giddings' school-room, on Market Street opposite the court-house.

On the 20th of September, 1818, a meeting was held at the residence of Mr. Giddings to take into consideration the expediency of building a Protestant house of worship, and on the 11th of January, 1819, another meeting was held to devise means for erect- ing the proposed building. Stephen Hempstead was chosen chairman, and Thomas H. Benton, clerk. Col. Alexander McNair, Rev. Salmon Giddings, and Nathaniel Beverly Tucker were appointed a commit- tee to draft a subscription paper, which was circulated not only in St. Louis, but also in New York, Phila- delphia, and Washington. John Quincy Adams con- tributed twenty-five dollars, and subscriptions were re- ceived from people of all denominations, including several Catholics. The heaviest contribution was that of two hundred dollars from Matthew Kerr. The total subscription was three thousand dollars.

The enterprise thus begun was not completed for many years, notwithstanding strenuous exertions on the part of the pastor, who made its completion a personal matter, collecting funds, laboring with his own hands, and borrowing moncy on his personal security for its completion. His untiring efforts were at last successful. The lot on which " Veranda Row" was subsequently built, extending on Fourth Street from St. Charles Street to Washington Avenue, was bought for three hundred and twenty-seven dol- lars, and the building was erected at what was then the enormous cost of eight thousand dollars (leaving a debt of five thousand dollars), and was dedicated on the 26th of June, 1825. It was a brick building, forty-six by sixty-five fect, two stories in height, with a cupola and spirc.

On the 19th of November, 1826, Mr. Giddings was formally installed " over the Presbyterian Church and

congregation of St. Louis" by the Presbytery of Mis- souri. The introductory prayer was offered by the Rev. Hiram Chamberlain, and the call of the congre- gation was read by the Rev. John S. Ball. The sermon was then delivered by the Rev. Charles S. Robinson. The charge to the pastor was made by the Rev. John Matthews, and the charge to the con- gregation by the Rev. Thomas Donnell. The con- cluding prayer and benediction were delivered by the Rev. William S. Lacy. Mr. Giddings died, as here- tofore stated, Feb. 1, 1827, and his funeral was at- tended by a concourse of persons numbering two thousand.

His successor was the Rev. William S. Potts, D.D., who reached St. Louis on the 14th of May, 1828, and was ordained by the Presbytery of Missouri, and installed as pastor Oct. 26, 1828. On this occa- sion the sermon was prcached by the Rev. William S. Lacey, and the ordination prayer was offered by the Rev. John Matthews. The charge to the pastor was pronounced by the Rev. John S. Ball, and the charge to the people by the Rev. Solomon Hardy.

Next to the Rev. Mr. Giddings, Dr. Potts was more prominently identified with the cause of Presby- terianism in Missouri than any other minister. He was born at Trenton, N. J., in 1804. His parents, members of the Society of Friends, desired that he should learn the trade of printing, but before finishing his apprenticeship he turned his attention to the study of the law. Soon after this, however, he determined to devote himself to the ministry, and in 1825 en- tered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J. In 1828 he was licensed as a probationer, and, being in delicate health, determined to go South, in the hope not only of being benefited by the less rigorous cli- mate, but of performing effective work among the Indians. He remained in this field of labor but a short time, and in May, 1828, by direction of the Board of Missions, under whose supervision he then acted, he repaircd to St. Louis and preached for the First Presbyterian Church, over which he was in- stalled pastor by the Presbyterian Mission the autumn following. Dr. Potts remained in charge of the First Church, which developed rapidly under his active and efficient ministration, until the 26th of June, 1835, when he resigned the pastorate in order to assume the presidency of the newly-organized Marion College. This institution was established for the purpose of training young men for the ministry. A charter was obtained and the college organized at Marion City, Mo., but it did not prove successful, and Dr. Potts ac- cepted a call to the pastorate of the Second Presby- terian Church, and was installed Oct. 5, 1839. He

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

1703

remained in charge of the church until his death, which occurred on the 28th of March, 1852, after a lingering illness, and while the church bell was call- ing the children to Sunday-school.

Dr. Potts was a man of great learning and exalted piety, and enjoyed the respect and confidence not only of his own denomination, but of the community at large. His successor at the First Church was the Rev. Dr. William Wisner, who was called July 23, 1835, but was never formally installed, and resigned on account of ill health in May, 1837. Dr. Artemas Bullard (than whom no minister ever exerted a more widespread influence in the Presbyterian Church in Missouri) was called April 2, 1838, installed June 27, 1838, and perished in the Gasconade disaster in 1855. Dr. Henry A. Nelson, who took charge in October, 1856, was installed Nov. 23, 1856, and resigned in the spring of 1868 to accept the chair of pastoral theology in Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio. Rev. Charles A. Dickey, of Allegheny City, Pa., who began his pastoral work in May, 1869, was installed July 4, 1869, and resigned in October, 1875, to accept a call to Philadelphia. Dr. H. D. Ganse, of New York City, was called in December, 1875, and is still the pastor. In 1832, John Shackford, of Washington, who styled himself " a friend of missions," wrote to Dr. Peters, then secretary of the American Home Missionary Society, saying, " I wish to add to the laborers already in the field in Missouri. I have concluded to devote to that purpose one hundred and four dollars per quarter, however much my circum- stances may be thereby straitened or my deprivations increased. I have determined to preach the gospel by proxy for two years, if not for life, and I am un- willing to be persuaded, however avarice, ease, cupid- ity, comfort, or convenience may plead, to accept a proposition by which the sum furnished would be re- duccd. I desire you to send the missionary to St. Louis." In consequence of this offer, Rev. E. F. Hatfield was sent out, and organized Nov. 23, 1832, the Second Presbyterian Church of St. Louis, for which purpose a colony of twenty-nine members was dismissed by the First Church, the mem- bership of which had increased to two hundred and fifty. Mr. Hatfield remained two years and a half, when, in consequence of the death of his wife, he returned East, and as it was not convenient for him to resume his labors in St. Louis, the church became disorganized and was dissolved, rcuniting with the First Church in February, 1837, and bringing back fifty-four members in place of the twenty-nine who had been dismissed.

nies of the First that have had a longer existence, to wit : the Second (in October, 1838), Walnut Street, Third (now the First Congregational), Washington Avenue (now the Pine Street), North, High Street (now Grand Avenue), and others.

The building now occupied by the congregation, opposite Missouri Park, is a memorial of the foresight and great exccutive ability of Rev. Dr. Artemas Bul- lard. It was dedicated on Oct. 21, 1855, although the lecture-room had been occupied for some time previous. Rev. Dr. Bccman, Rev. Mr. Wisner, and Rev. Dr. Bullard took part in the exercises. After the sermon, preached by Dr. Beeman, a funeral hymn was sung, and during the singing the remains of the first pas- tor of the congregation, the Rev. Salmon Giddings,

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

were taken into the church, and deposited in a vault immediately before the pulpit. Among the pall- bearers were Col. John O'Fallon, Asa Wilgus, Jesse Lindell, Matthew Carr, and George K. Budd, members of the First Church in its early days. The building, which is of brick and stonc, cost over one hundred thousand dollars, and its dimensions are eighty-four by one hundred and thirty fect ; the tower is two hundred and twenty-five feet high ; the main audience-room contains one hundred and fifty pews, and there are attached to the church a chapel, Sunday-school rooms, a pastor's study, and ladies' parlors. There is also a parsonage (No. 1413 Lucas

Subsequently other churches were formed as colo- Avenue), valued, with the lot on which it stands, at

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

about fifteen thousand dollars. In 1855 the lot on Fourth Street, which cost in 1825 three hundred and twenty-seven dollars, was sold for sixty-two thousand dollars, and the proceeds helped to defray the cost of the new edificc. Dr. Ganse, the present pastor, says, " No history of the First Presbyterian Church of St. Louis would be at all complete which should not commemorate, in connection with all its direct re- ligious work, the influence which, under its patriotic pastor, Dr. Nelson, it exerted for the Union during the civil war." Connected with the church are a Ladies' and a Young Ladies' Missionary Society, a Sunday-school, and the Tabernacle Mission School. About one hundred and seventy-five families are ac- tively connected with the church, and there are three hundred and ninety-seven communicants, and the Sunday-schools are attended by thirty-five teachers and about five hundred scholars. On the 15th of November, 1867, the semi-centennial anniversary of Presbyterianism in St. Louis was celebrated in this church with appropriate exercises.

The Second Presbyterian Church, northwest corner of Seventeenth Street and Lucas Place, Rev. Samuel J. Nicolls, pastor, was organized Oct. 10, 1838, by sixty members from the First Presbyterian Church and two from other churches. Its first elders were Hamilton R. Gamble, Wyllys King, and Wil- liam Holcombe. A temporary building was erected for worship at the corner of Pine and Fifth Streets, but the lot on the northwest corner of Fifth and Wal- nut Streets (where the Temple building now stands) was bought soon after from Pierre Chouteau for $10,- 800, and in March, 1839, the erection of a permanent house of worship was begun. In January, 1840, the lecture-room of the new building was hastily fitted up, and the congregation abandoned the tem- porary edifice. The completed building was dedi- cated Oct. 11, 1840. Rev. C. W. McPheeters, Rev. J. F. Cowan, and Rev. W. P. Cochran took part in the services, and the dedication sermon was preached by the Rev. H. P. Goodrich, D.D. The dedication prayer was offered by the Rev. Nathan A. Hall, and the benediction was pronounced by the Rev. W. S. Potts, pastor of the church. The cost of the build- ing was about forty-two thousand dollars. It was occupied for the last time on June 28, 1868, having been sold to David Nicholson. For some months the congregation worshiped with that of the First Church. The lot on which the church now stands costs thirty thousand dollars, and the erection of the building was begun in 1857, and the corner-stone was laid on the 23d of March, 1869.

The board of trustees consisted of Sullivan Blood,

chairman ; James E. Yeatman, A. M. Gardiner, Geo. S. Drake, C. S. Greeley, secretary and treasurer ; and the building committee of C. S. Greeley, chairman ; George S. Drake, Rev. S. J. Niccolls, James E. Yeat- man, Daniel B. Clark, William Downing, Samuel Bonner, Thomas Lowery, Henry Hitchcock, and Samuel Copp. The chapel was completed and first occupied Dec. 27, 1868. The main building was dedicated Dec. 25, 1870. It is an elegant structure of rough, unhewn stone, and cost one hundred and sixty thousand dollars.

On the organization of the church the pulpit was first supplied by Rev. A. T. Norton, then a city mis- sionary in St. Louis. In February, 1839, Rev. Wil- liam S. Potts, then president of Marion College (an institution that had proved a failure), who had for- merly been pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, was called to the pastorate. He entered upon his duties in July, was regularly installed Oct. 5, 1839, and died March 28, 1852. During the thirteen years of Dr. Potts' charge upwards of nine hundred per- sons united with this church, four hundred and seventy of them on profession. Rev. Robert P. Farris (since of Peoria) supplied the pulpit during the year following. Rev. Nathan L. Rice, D.D., of Cincin- nati, was unanimously called Jan. 26, 1853. The call was opposed by the Cincinnati Presbytery, but was unanimously repeated March 9th, and finally ac- cepted. Dr. Rice entered upon his duties April 25, 1853, was installed October 9th following, and re- signed Sept. 15, 1857, to take the chair of theology in the Theological Seminary of the Northwest. Rev. James H. Brooks, D.D., though never installed as pastor, served as such from February, 1858 (having been called two months previous), until July, 1864, when he becanie pastor of the colony that formed the Walnut Street (now Compton Avenue) Church. Rev. Samuel J. Niccolls, of Pennsylvania, was called Oc- tober, 1864, began his labors January 1st, and was in- stalled March 5, 1865. This church has sent out the following colonies : Central (or Fourth) in 1844; Westminster (afterwards Pine Street), 1846; Park Avenue (afterwards Chouteau Avenue) ; First Ger- man, 1863 ; Walnut Street, 1864; and Grace Church (afterwards united with Chouteau Avenue), 1868. It has also contributed largely to the membership of churches in Carondelet, Kirkwood, and elsewhere.

This church supports four Sunday-schools,-a morn- ing school, Henry T. Nash, superintendent ; an after- noon school, E. Anson More, superintendent; the Memorial Tabernacle, or Biddle Market Mission, a gift front Carlos S. Greeley, Thomas Morrison, super- intendent; and Kossuth Avenue Mission, near the

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RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.

Fair Grounds, Henry A. Smith, superintendent. These schools have an aggregate attendance of about two thousand children. It also supports a foreign mission at Siam and a city missionary, Rev. William Portcus. Altogether the church contributes about forty thousand dollars annually to benevolent and con- gregational uses. A Ladies' Aid Society and Young People's Working Society are connected with the congregation. The congregation numbers nearly eight hundred active members, with a connection of two hundred and twenty families, or twelve hundred persons, among whom are many of the most promi- nent and influential members of St. Louis society.

Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church .- In Feb- ruary, 1844, Washington Avenue Church, New School, was organized, under the direction of Rev. Dr. Bullard, by a colony of fifty members from the First Presbyterian Church, who first met for wor- ship in the State tobacco warehouse on the northeast corner of Sixth Street and Washington Avenue. Rev. James Gallaher first supplied the pulpit for about one year, when Rev. J. B. Townsend was in- stalled as pastor. Mr. Gallaher died in the autumn of 1853. A church was subsequently built on the southwest corner of Eighth Street and Washington Avenue, and was occupied until the removal of the society to a second edifice on the northwest corner of Eleventh and Pine Streets, the ground for which was bought in 1849. The basement of the new building was occupied in 1851, and the church was dedicated in 1853. The first pastor, Mr. Townsend, resigned on account of ill health in the fall of 1850. Rev. Mr. Long took charge in 1851, and remained about a year. Rev. J. W. Hall, D.D., of Alabama, as- sumed the pastorate in April, 1853, but only re- mained six months. After his departure the church was left without a pastor. During the summer of 1853 the church building was completed and dedi- cated, under the eldership of John Whitehill and Martin Simpson.

Westminster Church, Old School, was organized on April 25, 1846, by the Rev. Dr. Potts, with eigh- teen members, and Rev. H. P. Goodrich, D.D., as " stated supply." The first place of worship was the hall of the medical college, on Washington Avenue opposite Tenth Strcet.

The church was originally known as the West- minster Mission. Its first elders were Thomas Can- non and Leverett Mills. In the latter part of 1846 the congregation moved from the medical college to the basement of Benton Public School house on Sixth Street, near St. Charles. Thence it removed to the Odd-Fellows' Hall, at Fourth and Locust Streets,

which it occupied jointly and alternately with St. George's Episcopal Church until October, 1848, when it purchased an edifice at the corner of Locust and Fifth Strects, erected by the Associate Reformed Presbyterians in 1841. Dr. Goodrich resigned July 1, 1848, and Rev. James A. Lyon, D.D., became pastor Nov. 15, 1848. A number of the members of the Second Presbyterian Church transferred their membership to the Westminster, and Thomas Cannon, Joseph Charless, Leverett Mills, David Keith, and Alexander C. Donaldson were appointed elders. Rev. Dr. Lyon resigned the pastorate on the 10th of November, 1850, and Rev. S. B. McPheeters, of Virginia, was called Jan. 31, 1851. He accepted, and was installed Dec. 14, 1851, at which time the congregation numbered thirty-four familics and eighty- ninc communicants.

In November, 1853, a union of the Pine Street and Westminster Churches was suggested. The for- mer was without a pastor, and both organizations were struggling with debt. The proposal commended itself to the members of both, and on the 30th of Novem- ber, 1853, the Pine Street Church united with the Westminster Church in accordance with an agreement adopted by W. W. Greene, Theodore Poindexter, D. K. Ferguson, G. Gorin, John Whitehill, and Robert Dougherty in behalf of the Pine Street Church, and Joseph Charless, Robert M. Henning, and George P. Strong in behalf of the Westminster Church.

The congregation adopted the name of Pine Street, and in accordance with a condition of the union iden- tified itself with the Old School Presbytery and Synod. Rev. Dr. McPheeters was clected pastor, and Joseph Charless, W. W. Greene, David Keith, Wm. Low, Alexander Marshall, Leverett Mills, Martin Simpson, George P. Strong, and John Whitehill were chosen elders of the new organization.

The Westminster Church property was sold in the spring of 1854, and the proceeds went to the united congregation. In April, 1854, there were reported two hundred and thirty-one members, and in 1861 three hundred and twenty-seven members, with one hundred and sixty pupils in the Sunday-school and seven hundred in Biddle Market Sunday-school, es- tablished by this church. During the war the church was agitated by political strife, and the Union mem- bers removed Mr. McPheeters from the pastorate,1 after which the church remained for several years without a minister, and was often closcd. At last the difficulty was settled by the withdrawal of three of

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 154

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358