History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 155

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

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 155

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1 In January, 1866, a call was again extended to Rev. Dr. McPheeters, but, greatly to the regret of the congregation, was declined by him, owing to his illness.

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the ruling elders. In 1872 the church united with the Independent or Southern Synod of Missouri. The pastors since the reopening of the church have been Revs. J. C. Thorn, of Waynesburg, Pa., ap- pointed July, 1865, died November 28th following ; Rev. B. T. Lacy, D.D., appointed in 1866, resigned November, 1870; Rev. A. P. Foreman, D.D., 1871- 72; Rev. E. H. Rutherford, D.D., of Petersburg, Va., installed in May, 1874. Just previous to Dr. Rutherford's installation, the presbytery and Synod with which the church was connected formed ecclesi- astical relations with the Southern Presbyterian As- sembly. Dr. Rutherford resigned the pastorate of this church in March, 1881, to accept a call to the Presbyterian Church at Paris, Ky. By invitation of the session, Rev. Francis L. Ferguson supplied the pulpit for six months from May, 1881.

In January, 1882, Rev. A. Nelson Hollifield, pas- tor of the Presbyterian Church in Huntingdon, Pa., was called to the pastorate, and was installed in the month of April by a committee of the Presbytery of St. Louis.

In 1879 the congregation purchased a site for a new church on the west side of Grand Avenue, opposite Washington Avenue, on an elevation about seventy- five feet higher than Washington Avenue, at Third Street, and from which a beautiful view of that por- tion of the city is obtained. The site is about one hundred and fifty feet square. In March, 1880, the erection of the chapel was begun in accordance with plans prepared by the architect, Francis D. Lee. The chapel was completed within six months. It is of limestone with white sandstone trimmings, and is con- structed in the pure English Gothic style. It is lo- cated at the west end of the lot, and fronts on the western extension of Washington Avenue.

The chapel has a seating capacity for four hundred persons, and is still occupied by the congregation, pending the completion of the church. The building was dedicated on the 7th of November, 1880, the officiating ministers being the Rev. Dr. Rutherford, pastor, Rev. R. P. Farris, Rev. G. H. Rout, and Rev. Dr. Brank. On this occasion the name of the church was changed from that of Pine Street to that of Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church. Its officers at that time were: Pastor, Rev. E. H. Rutherford, D.D .; Elders, William G. Clark, D. K. Ferguson, John J. Holliday, James McQ. Douglas, Isaac B. Kirtland, Dr. William M. McPheeters, Dr. H. N. Spencer, William Webb, and James H. Wear; Deacons, Elliott W. Douglas, Edward F. Chappell, Hugh Ferguson, James Rosebrough, J. W. McLanahan, J. M. Cooper, and A. N. Craig. The corner-stone of the main

building was laid Oct. 14, 1882. The new church will be a superb Gothic structure of St. Louis lime- stone, with five gable-ends, one hundred feet high, and large windows of stained glass. The main entrance will be ornamented with moulded arches and columns of cut stone. The' auditorium will be in the form of an amphitheatre, and will accommodate twelve hundred persons, its size being one hundred and fif- teen by one hundred feet. It is expected that the building will be ready in the summer of 1883, and will cost one hundred and ten thousand dollars. The architect is Francis D. Lee. The church reports a membership of two hundred and eleven, with two hundred and thirty-eight in the Sunday-school.

The officers of the church at present are Rev. H. Nelson Hollifield, D.D., pastor ; Elders, W. G. Clark, D. K. Furguson, E. S. Frazer, James McQ. Douglass, I. B. Kirtland, W. M. McPheeters, H. N. Spencer, William Webb, James H. Wear; Deacons, J. T. Chap- pell, Archibald Crary, Elliott W. Douglas, Hugh Furguson, J. W. McLanahan, James Roscbrough.

Among the ministers prominently identified with the old Pine Street Church was the Rev. Charles D. Simpson. Mr. Simpson was a native of St. Louis, and received his early education at St. Louis Univer- sity. He pursued a course of study at Illinois Col- lege, Jacksonville, and received from that institution the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts. He then studied theology at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, under the instruction of Lyman Beecher, D.D., and Professor Stowe. He was regarded as an exception- ally close and thorough student, and his attainments in mathematical science were remarkable. He was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church in 1843, and at once entered upon the duties of his clerical life at Glasgow, Mo. Subsequently he be- came a professor in the City University, and also officiated at Pine Street Church. Mr. Simpson died early in September, 1866.

Central Presbyterian Church .- This congrega- tion was organized April 18, 1844, by Dr. William S. Potts and Rev. William Gilbreath, as the Fourth Presbyterian Church (Old School), with thirty-two members, nearly all of whom had obtained letters for the purpose from the Second Church. . On the fol- lowing day the first session was elected, consisting of Philip Skinner, George W. Meyers, and John Suydam, and on the following Sunday, April 21st, Messrs. Meyers and Suydam werc ordained, and the session was installed. The first communion of the church was celebrated on the same day. The congregation met in a small frame building on the southeast corner of Sixth and St. Charles Streets. Rev. Joseph Tem-

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pleton first supplied the pulpit, but on May 12, 1845, Rev. Alexander Van Court was chosen pastor. He began his duties in July following. He labored with great diligence and suecess, and during his ministry the church grew and prospered. In July, 1849, he suddenly fell a victim to the cholera whichi raged in that year. In 1845 the church elected as its first board of trustees John M. Wimer, John Huylman, and Taylor Blow, to whom, in 1846, were added David W. Wheeler, Oliver Bennett, and S. Ridgely. Thomas Osborne and Dr. Thomas Barbor were also added to the session, and in November, 1846, Othneil Cannon and Charles N. Lewis were elected the first deacons. In the spring of 1846 the name was changed by the presbytery to that of the Central Presbyterian Church of St. Louis. About the same time a lot at the northwest corner of Locust and Eighth Streets was purchased, whither the congrega- tion removed in the fall of 1848. It worshiped at first in the basement. During the following winter Rev. Dr. Hall held a series of protracted meetings which added largely to the membership. The build- ing was finished in 1849. It had two storics, with rooms for the pastor's use and for other purposes in the basement. The audience-room, eighty-five by fifty feet, seated about six hundred persons. After the death of Mr. Van Court the church remained for eighteen months without a pastor. Revs. Samuel Pettigrew, John N. Hall, and William M. Ruggles served as stated supplies, and the congregation was greatly troubled by dissensions among its members and other causes until (Dec. 11, 1850) Rev. S. J. P. Anderson, of Virginia, was called. Mr. Ander- son entered upon his duties Jan. 20, 1851. He at once restored harmony to the church, which under his pastorate soon became prosperous. In March, 1851, its membership had increased to two hundred and forty-three, and all who were officially connected with the society labored zealously for its welfare. In 1858 nearly one hundred new members were added, but during the civil war the church declined. The pastor was arrested and tried by the military authori- ties, and the congregation diminished in consequence. The return of peace, however, brought a return of prosperity, but on the 25th of May, 1868, Mr. An- derson's failing health compelled him to resign, and the church remained again without a pastor. For some time it was served by Rev. Henry Branch as stated supply.

Dr. Brank, of Lexington, Ky., the present pastor, was called in January, 1869, but did not signify his acceptance until May 31, 1869. Soon after the present site was purchased, and a temporary chapel

crected, in which an afternoon Sunday-school was opened in the spring of 1870. Weekly prayer-meet- ings were held in the same building during the winter of 1871-72. In the spring of 1873 the congregation removed to this chapel, their building on Locust Street having become unsafe owing to the eonstrue- tion of a tunnel under it. Soon after this the strue- ture was demolished. On June 8, 1874, a building committee was appointed consisting of Messrs. B. H. Batte, I. M. Veitch, S. N. Holliday, D. P. Rowland, Dent G. Tutt, and Samuel Barron, and a plan pre- pared by C. K. Ramsey, architect, was accepted. The chapel was removed to an adjoining lot, and the eree- tion of the present edifice was begun. It was finished in 1876. It is built in strict accordance with the early English style, with two towers in front, one at each corner, the first one hundred and ninety-two, and the other one hundred and twenty fcet in height. The transepts are each twenty-six feet wide, with ten feet projection. The roof is open-timbered, riehly decorated with trusses supported by stone corbels, constructed of broken ashlar, with eut-stone trimmings from Warrensburg. The building oeeupies a lot one hundred and nine by one hundred and thirty-five feet. The auditorium is fifty-eight by ninety feet. At the rear is a chapel, with leeture-room, elass-room, library, parlors, ete. The construction of this edifiee involved the church so heavily in debt that in the summer of 1879 it found itself in great difficulties. Propositions were made to sell the church and abandon the enter- prise, and the pastor tendered his resignation, which was' not, however, accepted. Early in 1880, one Sunday morning the pastor made an earnest appeal for aid to the congregation, and the sum of twenty- one thousand dollars was subscribed on the spot, and afterwards punctually paid. There are at present about one hundred and thirty families and three hun- drcd and fifty communicants connected with the con- gregation, and twenty-seven teachers, with nearly three hundred pupils in the Sunday-school. The present church edifice is situated at the northeast corner of Lucas and Garrison Avenues,.and the Rev. Robert G. Brank, D.D., is the pastor.

The North Presbyterian Church was organized by a colony of nine members from the First Pres- byterian Church, together with nine others, on the 27th of March, 1845. The present church, situated at the northwest corner of Eleventh and Chambers Strects, was built in 1857. It was a two-story brick building, sixty by nincty feet, the upper story being used as a church, and the lower story for the purposes of the Sunday-school. It seated about eight hundred persons. During the summer of 1882 the interior

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was entirely remodeled and redecorated, the seats were rearranged in amphitheatrical form, the organ was removed to the back of the auditorium and en- larged, and stained glass replaced the former plain panes of the windows. The church thus renovated was rededicated Oct. 15, 1882. The congregation numbers about five hundred persons, actual members two hundred, and the Sunday-school has twenty-five teachers and three hundred and seventy scholars. The pastor is the Rev. S. H. Williams.

Carondelet Presbyterian Church, Fourth and Mar- ket Streets, South St. Louis, Rev. James H. Shields, pastor, was organized about 1850 by Hon. Henry T. Blow and wife, Dr. Ashbel Webster and wife, Francis Quinnette and wife, and others. The first house of worship was located on Main Street between Kansas and Illinois Streets. It was sold in 1864 and con- verted into a dwelling, and the society removed to its present quarters. The successive pastors have been Revs. Hiram P. Goodrich, D.D., R. S. Finley, John T. Cowen, S. A. Mutchmore, 1862-65 ; C. H. Dun- lap, 1867, '68; Samuel Hay, 1868, '69 ; R. A. Con- dit, appointed November, 1869; Henry S. Little, appointed September, 1874; James H. Shields, ap- pointed November, 1879. Hope Mission Chapel, corner of Third and Taylor Streets, is an offshoot of this church. It has a congregation of six hundred persons, and a Sunday-school attended by four hun- dred and twenty scholars. The present officers of the church are : Session, or Board of Elders (in charge of spiritual interests), the pastor, chairman, ex officio, Leonard R. Woods, William D. Starke, Frederick H. Williams, James M. Gayley ; Board of Deacons (in charge of the poor and of benevolent work), J. P. Richardson, John Fitzpatrick ; Board of Trustees (in charge of temporal concerns), Charles A. McNair, S. M. Bayless, Dr. E. E. Webster, F. W. Mott, J. P. Richardson, Leonard R. Woods, Frederick H. Wil- liams, James M. Gayley. Connected with the con- gregation are a Ladies' Missionary Society, organized in 1874, of which Mrs. A. Shawk has been president, and Miss R. Woods, secretary, from the beginning to date; also a Young People's Literary Society, organ- ized in 1881; R. A. Hill, president; H. A. Chapin, secretary. About one hundred and sixty families constitute the parish, of whom one hundred and sixty persons are communicants. The morning Sunday- school is attended by twenty teachers and two hundred and fifty scholars.

Des Peres Presbyterian Church was organized in the latter part of March, 1833, by Rev. William S. Potts and Dr. Ingraham, in the dwelling-house of Rev. Mr. Granville (Methodist), which was rented

for the occasion. The members of the congregation at that time were Thomas D. Yeates, Matilda Yeates, Amanda Yeates, Rebecca McCutchan, George Reed, Mary Reed, James Reed, Thomas Recd, Ellen Parks, Mary Parks, George Y. Andrew, Ann, Mary, and Baldwin King. The elders were Thomas D. Yeates, George Reed, and George Y. King. During the next year (1834) three acres of land were given- one acre cach by David Small, David Hartshorn, and Stephen Maddox-for a building site for a church and a graveyard. A building of stone was commenced the same year and progressed so far as to be inclosed, in which condition it was used for public worship until 1840. In the troubles that divided the church into the Old and New School bodies, this church cast its lot with, and has recognized the ecclesiastical authority and control of, the Old School Church. Of the records of this church from its organization down to Sept. 6, 1837, none remain or are known of to the present officers of the church. Between the years 1833 and 1837 the pulpit was filled by Rev. William S. Potts, Dr. Ingraham, and Rev. Mr. Lovejoy. Gary Hick- man, a licentiate, was in charge of the pulpit when the present records commence. In 1840 the present building was completed. Since Mr. Hickman left, the pulpit has been filled by the following ministers : M. Hodges, John N. Gilbreath, H. A. Booth, Joseph Fenton, William J, Lapsley, H. T. Morton, William C. Claggett, William H. Parks, A. Shotwell, and J. A. Smith. Rev. J. N. Gilbreath was pastor more than thirty years.

The elders elected since its organization have been Zachariah Barron, Jonas Geyer, Ninian B. Barron, William B. Harwood, Frederick Des Combes, William McKnight, Ralph Clayton, Henry Barron, Ottawa B. Harwood, Edward Fitzgerald, Charles Snyder, and Charles R. Black.

The deacons have been Cornelius D. Demorest, Thomas M. Barron, Charles Lovercheck, Thomas H. Ennis, and David L. Des Combes. Since 1837 the church has received by letter and on profession of faith one hundred and sixty-one members.

Providence Presbyterian Church .- In 1859 the Rev. William Parks organized an Old School congre- gation, known as Providence Presbyterian Church, which worshiped for some time in a hall on Broadway between O'Fallon and Cass Avenues. Subsequently it removed to a hall over what was known as the Mound Market, standing in the middle of Broadway near Howard Street. In the fall of 1859 a church organization was effected by the committee of the presbytery, consisting of Rev. Dr. McPhecters, Rev. Dr. Brooks, and Mr. Parks. Subsequently Mr. Parks

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was forced on account of ill health to relinquish the pastorate, and was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Sluder, under whose administration a lot at Webster and Twelfth Streets was purchased, and a two-story brick building erected. The lower story was used for the Sunday-school, and the congregation also worshiped there until the church was completed.

Washington and Compton Avenues Presby- terian Churches .- The Second Presbyterian Church, then located at Fifth and Walnut Streets, decided in 1859 to send out a colony to establish a church in the western part of the city, and for this purpose bought a lot on the northeast corner of Walnut and Six- teenth Streets, and commenced building thereon. The lecture-room was still unfinished in 1861, when the war came on and funds gave out, necessitating the stoppage of the work. The Union Presbyterian (In- dependent) Church sold, in March, 1862, to the Union Methodist Church its building at Eleventh and Locust Streets, and leased for two years, from July 1, 1862, the unfinished building at Walnut and Six- teenth Streets. This congregation completed the lec- ture-room at a cost of six thousand dollars, which was repaid when, on the expiration of its lease, it vacated the premises. From this time the Union Church ceased to exist as a separate organization. It had been organized twelve years previous (in January, 1849) with about thirty-five members, and worshiped for some time in Wyman's Hall. In 1852 the con- gregation determined to erect a church at the corner of Eleventh and Locust Streets, and in a little over a year, Jan. 8, 1854, the building was completed and dedicated. Its dimensions were sixty-nine by one hundred and fourteen feet, but the extreme measure- ments, including the towers, were eighty by one hun- dred and twenty-one feet. At the southeastern corner was a tower fifteen feet square, which ascended to the height of one hundred and forty-five feet, having a massive projecting base of cut limestone. At this time the Rev. William Homes was the pastor.

In June, 1864, the original idea of a colony was revived. Dr. Brookes, then pastor of the Second Church, and one hundred and fifty of its members withdrew, and on July 4, 1864, were organized by a committee of the St. Louis Presbytery (in connection with the Northern General Assembly) as the Walnut Street Presbyterian Church, the Second Church making over to them the property which they then began to occupy. Within three months one hundred members of the Second Church joined them, and on the 25th of December, 1864, they first occupied the completed church, the erection of which they had begun immediately after their organization.

The lot, which is one hundred by one hundred and twenty feet in cxtent, cost, with the church included, about eighty thousand dollars. It will seat about fif- teen hundred persons. The congregation also had a chapel on the corner of Twenty-second Street and Gamble Avenue, a frame building seventy by forty fect. The church was a two-story brick building. In 1866, owing to certain political action of the Northern General Assembly on the subject of slavery, the Walnut Street Church united with others in or- ganizing the Independent Synod of Missouri, but in May, 1874, the Northern General Assembly took such steps as led to a reunion with it of this church, which has since remained connected with it.

In process of time the location of the church be- came unsuitable, owing to the removal to western and southwestern parts of the city of the bulk of its mem- bers, and by 1878 this unsuitableness had led to the organization of Lafayette Park Church, which went out as a colony from Walnut Street. In 1877 the pres- ent site, southwest corner of Washington and Comp- ton Avenues, was bought from Mrs. Edgar Ames for fifteen thousand dollars. The lot is one hundred and forty by one hundred and fifty-two feet. Ground was broken July 4, 1877, the corner-stone was laid Oct. 27, 1877, and the lecture-room was occupied May 1, 1879. On the 5th of December, 1880, the first services in the completed edifice were held. This building is ninety-four by one hundred and thirty-six fcet, English Gothic in style, and of St. Louis lime- stone, pitch-faced broken ashlar, trimmed with sand- stone, with stone towers at the four corners, and an imposing entrance, embellished by moulded and pol- ished columns of Maine granite and buttresses and steps of the same. The architect was John H. Mau- rice, and the building committee was composed of Thomas E. Tutt, president ; John R. Lionberger, vice- president ; J. L. Sloss, treasurer ; and William T. Barron. The main auditorium is eighty-four by eighty-eight feet and forty-one feet eight inches high. The pews are arranged in amphitheatrical form, and the seating capacity, including a gallery at the front end, is fifteen hundred. The windows are of large cathedral style, rich in decoration, and several are memorial. The organ is set in a decp recess back of the pulpit, under which are the pastor's study and reception-room. The lecture-room, under the main floor, is sixty-one feet square and fourtcen feet high, with a seating capacity of five hundred. It can be enlarged to dimensions of eighty-five by eighty-three feet by opening folding-doors and throwing into it the two rooms used for Bible classes. The infant Sunday- school class-room and the ladies' parlors are on this

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floor. The building on Walnut Strect is still owned by the church, though offered for sale, and is used for Sunday-school purposes and religious meetings. The church, through its pastor, Rev. J. H. Brookes, D.D., reported to the Synod of 1882 a membership of five hundred and twenty-seven, with five hundred and fifty-four pupils in the Sunday-seliool, an expenditure for the year of ten thousand six hundred and twenty- two dollars for congregational and five thousand two hundred and eleven dollars for benevolent uses, and an average congregational attendance of about seven hundred.

Glasgow Avenue Presbyterian Church .- This congregation, whose present church cdifice is situated at the southeast corner of Glasgow Avenue and Dickson Street, Rev. William R. Henderson, pastor, grew out of a conversation held at Webster Groves, Sunday, May 11, 1873, between Rev. Thomas Mar- shall, visiting that place on ministerial duty, and L. E. Alexander, a resident there, who called the min- ister's attention to the field now occupied by this church and assured him of his support in case the enterprise should be attempted. Thursday evening prayer-meetings were established soon afterwards at the " old Garrison mansion," corner of Page and Easton Avenucs, and a little later Laelede Hall, cor- ner of Garrison and Easton Avenues, was rented, the first services being held there on June 22, 1873, with a congregation of forty persons. About the same number also attended the Sunday school in the afternoon. On the 22d of March, 1874, the church was organized, with thirty-seven members, as the Gar- rison Avenue Church by a committee of the presby- tery, consisting of Revs. Thomas Marshall, J. J. Marks, D.D., C. H. Foote, D.D., and Elders E. A. Moore and George W. Shaw. Rev. Thomas Mar- shall, the first pastor, was installed July 5, 1874. He resigned November, 1881, having been elected synodical missionary for the State of Missouri. Rev. William R. Henderson, of Harrodsburg, Ky., was called as his successor in March, 1882, and duly installed May 21st. On the 2d of August, 1874, the congregation assembled on the lot it now holds, and which it had bought for four thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars from Charles Morgan, of New York City. Services were held and the work of building was commenced by tlie pastor turning the first spadeful of earth, and on Dec. 19, 1875, the church removed from Laclede Hall and held services in the basement of the present chapel, the name of the church being then changed to its present designation. On the 14th of November, 1880, the completed chapel was dedicated, Revs. Dr. Ganse, Niecolls,

Marquis, Rhodes, Brank, Brookes, Porteus, and Allen, in addition to the pastor, taking part in the exercises. The church lot is eighty by one hundred and eightcen feet in area. The basement, chapel, and furniture cost thirteen thousand dollars. The main edifice will occupy the corner of the lot, and will probably be built within the next two or three years. The number of communicants now connected with the church is about one hundred and twenty-five, and the Sunday-school has an enrolled attendance of about three hundred. Connected with the regular church organization are a Ladies' Missionary Society, a Children's Missionary Society, called " Seed-Sowers," a Young People's Prayer-Meeting, etc.

Westminster Presbyterian Church, southeast eor- ner of Pestalozzi and James Strcets, Rev. J. G. Reaser, pastor, was organized Dec. 31, 1873, by Revs. A. Van der Lippe and I. N. Cundall, and Elder J. E. Cowan, assisted by Rev. J. W. Allen. The congregation worshiped in rented rooms at No. 3500 Carondelet Avenue until their removal to their present church edifice, the corner-stone of which was laid Aug. 10, 1875. Rev. W. Howell Buchanan was the first pastor, the present incumbent succeeding him April 1, 1880. The building is of brick, about forty-five by seventy feet, and with the lot is valued at ten thousand dollars. The Sunday-school was organized Oct. 19, 1873, and is now attended by two hundred and twenty scholars. There are a Ladies' Aid Society and Young People's Society connected with the church. The congregation numbers two hundred and fifty per- sons, and the communicants one hundred and thirty. Since 1880 fifty-four new members have been added, and the attendance at worship has doubled.

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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 155

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