February 7, 2018
This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.
Members of
the Presbyterian Church in Junction City are celebrating their church’s 150th anniversary. On February 23, 1868, Reverend John Anderson
preached his first sermon in Junction City.
The congregation extended an invitation to him to become the minister of
the newly established church. The first
gathering was held in a building known as the “Corn Crib”. On May 2nd, 1868, the lots on
which the Church now stands were purchased.
On March 8, 1868 there were 11 charter members. The Sunday School was organized with 16
pupils. On September 27, 1868, the
congregation moved to Brown’s Hall on the north side of the City Park. The first building was a vision of Major O.J.
Hopkins. The congregation met on August
25, 1869 and resolved to build a church building. The present location at the corner of Fifth
and Washington Streets was first used on Christmas Eve of 1870. It was dedicated on July 19, 1872.
The manse at 125 W. Fifth Street, where the minister resides
was built in 1886. In 1911, the organ
was installed in the church through a gift of Andrew Carnegie.
A new
structure was erected in 1919-1920. The
congregation met in the junior high school, which was then the Departmental
School from April 11, 1920 to July of 1921.
When the new building was dedicated on September 25, 1921, it was steam
heated, seated 600 people, and had a church school building and 7 separate
departmental meeting rooms and classrooms.
There were 33 separate rooms in the building. The organ was a gift of Mrs. Oscar Howard as
a memorial to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. N.F. Green. The cost of the building, pews, organ and
fixtures total $115,000.
This
beautiful structure for worship is often used for concerts and recitals and is
one of the special landmarks in our city.
Well… that
is today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical
Society.
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