The first Presbyterian Church in Phoenix


When people think of churches in Phoenix, and anywhere in the Southwest, naturally our thoughts go to Catholic Churches. My fascination with history started in California, and those churches go back to the days when California was part of Spain, and then Mexico. Yes, Protestant churches started to appear later, but they're very recent by comparison. And today I'm thinking of the first Presbyterian church in Phoenix, Arizona.

Of course, a church is wherever two or more are gathered in His name, so there is a church anywhere that people choose to worship, even if there isn't a building. But for practical purposes, when people talk about a church, they mean a building. And the first Presbyterian church in Phoenix, which is pictured at the top of this post, wasn't exactly a cathedral - it was made of sticks and wood. My best guess is that it was mostly mesquite, which was plentiful in the Phoenix area at the time. The drawing up there is from a Phoenix directory published in 1892, and it's a drawing of the first church in Phoenix in 1879, nine years after the town was platted.



When the railroad arrived in 1887, and building materials became less expensive, a more substantial building was built, on Adams and 3rd Avenue. This is where the congregation met from 1889 to 1927.


Of course Phoenix grew quickly (it always has!) and by the 1920s there were plans to build a new church building, which was completed in 1927, and is still there, at 402 W. Monroe (although it hasn't been called "First Presbyterian" for years). This is the church that most people know about, and it's the one that I used to walk past back in the '90s when I worked downtown and wondered about the old buildings.

Thank you for visiting the First Presbyterian Church with me!




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