FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF SAN FRANCISCO

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The church is proud of our extensive history of over 150 years.  Through the decades, our congregation has celebrated many different fascinating events.
    

1849 - 1899:  THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS

Gold was discovered on January 24, 1848.  Within a year, San Francisco was flooded with immigrants.    One of those arriving was Reverend T. Dwight Hunt, who had been a young missionary in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii).   Mr. Hunt arrived on the last Sunday in October, 1848, and was engaged as Chaplain of San Francisco within one week.  On November 1, 1848, Mr. Hunt led the first service at 11 AM on that Sunday at a schoolhouse on Portsmouth Square.  A marker identifying this site was recently placed on the Barbary Coast Trail.  Other clergy arrived among the immigrants for the next several months and a letter was prepared to initiate the First Congregational Church on July 29, 1849.  The first building was dedicated on February 10, 1850 at the corner of Jackson Street and Virginia Place.  Church membership was initially difficult, growing from an original 8 to only 20 by the end of 1850 and 52 by the end of 1852.

A new building was dedicated in 1853 at California and Dupont Streets.  Membership blossomed to several hundred by 1856.  Subsequent pastors in the 1800's include Reverend Edward S. Lacy, Reverend A. L. Stone, Reverend Charles Dana Barrows, Reverend Charles O. Brown and Reverend George C. Adams.  During this time of prolific growth in California, our church sponsored Sunday concerts, The Cheerful Workers (a local mission), a kindergarten, the Choral Society, and the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor.  The church growth led to the construction of a new gothic style building with a large steeple, dedicated May 19, 1872.

The efforts of First Congregational Church help to support 105 new churches across the West by 1899 as far away as Eureka, Nevada City, Fresno, Los Angeles, National City and Salt Lake City.  Many Bay area congregational churches were also created with the financial and missionary support of our former church members including Berkeley, Antioch, Stockton, Petaluma, Martinez, Niles, San Mateo and Santa Rosa.

Source:  Golden Jubilee:  1849-1899, First Congregational Church, San Francisco, California.

1899 - 1949:  THE 1906 EARTHQUAKE AND THE NEXT FIFTY YEARS

At the time of the earthquake, First Congregational Church had the largest Protestant church membership in San Francisco.  The gothic steeple, a symbol of the 1872 building, toppled in the earthquake (shown in the adjacent photo from the Museum of San Francisco).  Subsequent damage to the building eventually led to a decision to demolish it and erect a the current building, dedicated in 1915.  The current building was designed with a skylight in the middle, and with a sturdy steel frame encased by poured concrete walls to resist the impact of future earthquakes.  Much of the rebuilt church was enabled by the merger of Plymouth Church (once on Post Street near Webster Street) along with a major building fund drive.  Doctor Charles Aked was instrumental in inspiring the congregation through this challenging time.

Succeeding called ministers included Reverend Byron H. Stauffer, Doctor James Logan Gordon, Doctor Chauncey J. Hawkins, Doctor Kerrison Juniper, and Doctor Jason Noble Pierce.  Of these, Doctor Gordon led the way for many innovative ideas, including a "question box" for sermon topics and substantial improvements to the organ.  The succession of ministers brought significant swings in church membership and attendance.  At the conclusion of the first 100 years, the future of First Congregational looked clouded.

A special service creating the United Nations was held in our building in 1946.  As a result of this ceremony, a collection of flags from around the world were mounted in the sanctuary for many years.

Source:  A History of San Francisco's First Congregational Church, Presented by Mr. Charles Bufford, February, 1948

1949 - 1999:  FIFTY YEARS OF CHANGE

The history of First Congregational in recent times includes a marked shift towards setting forth new movements of church awareness.  The members saw a resurgence in popularity through the 1940's and 1950's only to see a decline through the 1960's and 1970's as more of society steered further away from church as a predominant element in community life.  As a result of this, the church leaders began to explore options to provide space for community programs, and to possibly partner in management and ownership of the building.  Some cosmetic modifications were made to the altar area of the sanctuary as a result of partnering agreements.

Noteworthy events from recent time are related to clergy activities:

• Dr. William E. McCormack's served from 1949 to 1960, and renewed the church from what had been a very low ebb.  He was sincere and conservative, and possessed of strong leadership capabilities.
• Dr. Ernest Heeren served from 1960 to 1962 and introduced a more liberal approach to the church membership.
• Dr. Harold Janes, served from 1963 to 1965 (when he died from a stroke), is noted in the development of a "Church in the Sky" -- the first concept to redefine the congregation as partners in building use, rather than be the sole user.
• Reverend James Clark Brown provided inspirational leadership from 1966 to 1980. From 1977, the church also called Reverend Brita Gill, the first female minister called by FCC.  Together they ministered effectively to a congregation that had strong liberals and strong conservatives, more elderly than young.  One noteworthy event organized by them was an ecumenical service was quickly arranged by them. The service was held at five o'clock on the afternoon following Thanksgiving.  Present were numerous clergymen of all faiths and civic leaders, including Mayor George Moscone--who the very next morning was murdered in his office at City Hall, as was Supervisor Harvey Milk.  Reverend Brown is also credited with bringing the St. Francis Meal Service congregate meal site to our building -- a community activity which continues each weekday today.
• Rev. James D. Claitor was called and served from 1982 to 1985.
• Dr. Roy H. Nyren was called in 1988.  Roy requested that the congregation declare itself Open and Affirming to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people which it did (18th nationally to do so).  He also led us to adopt our statement of purpose in 1993.  Dr. Nyren retired from FCC in 1995.
• Reverend James Lawer, serving as a senior minister between 1994 and 1996, broke ground both as the first openly gay called minister at FCC as well as an innovator of new approaches to worship.
• In December 1999, the congregation called the Rev. Catherine Bohrman.  Rev. Cathy was originally hired in 1998 in a new concept called "term-limited".

Beginning in 1997, Congregation members began a spirit of  a "renewal" through team leadership.  We recently introduced interesting new components to the life of the church:

• First Congregational Church introduced a "rotating pulpit" into worship services.
• First Congregational Church chose to sell our building, and relocate into a building more suited for us.

1999 - 2049:  THE NEXT FIFTY YEARS

First Congregegational Church has embarked on a new journey of faith -- a new spirit of being a re-"new start" church!

The church building sale was completed in early 2001.  First Congregational Church became a tenant at St. Mark's Lutheran Church's Urban Life Center at 1101 Franklin Street.  The congregation purchased a building at Polk and Bush Street in 2002.  In 2003, the congregation secured a conditional use permit for the building site.   In 2005, the congregation chose to move into 1323 Polk Street (across from the new building site) as a temporary office location. Now, the congregation celebrates the opening of the new building at the corner of Polk and Bush Streets!   

Another serendipitous event occurred in 2001.  A minister with almost 20 years of experience in Germany at a sister denomination to the UCC, Wilfried Glabach, won a green card and was moved to come to San Francisco.  As Wilfried found the congregation, a wonderful match occurred.  Wilfried is now called to be with the congregation.  Rev. Wilfried Glabach celebrated the completion of his Doctorate of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary in May, 2006.

Sources:  A History from 1915 to 1982, Presented by Ms. Virginia Gerritsen, November, 1982
               Interviews with various church members
  

The church has made detailed historical records written about our history available on separate pages.  Materials include:

A History from 1915 to 1982
Golden Jubilee Celebration Book, 1899:  Recorded History of FCC:  1849-1899
Golden Jubilee Celebration Book, 1899:  Part 1
Golden Jubilee Celebration Book, 1899:  Part 2
 
 

Last update: April 19, 2008