FPC History

History of First Presbyterian Church

Text Box: Before there was a Wichita, and before there was a Sedgwick County, there was a First Presbyterian Church.

Text Box: Wilberforce K. Boggs Organizer and Stated Supply Pastor 1869-1871

Text Box: John Harsen First Permanent Pastor 1871-1879

In December 1870, the Reverend John Pease Harsen became the church’s first installed pastor. Wichita now had a population of 2500 and was about to become the center of the Texas cattle trade. First Presbyterian Church of Wichita had a membership of thirty and a Sunday school with one hundred students. The new frame building proved to be too small and was sold to the Catholic church for $500. That same building resides today in Old Cowtown Museum. Quarters were rented in the Eagle Block at Main Street and Douglas Avenue and then in the First Baptist Church. On July 4, 1876, the cornerstone was laid on a brick church at the southwest corner of First Street and Lawrence (Broadway) Avenue.

Early History—Frame Church (1870-1876)

In October 1869, after visiting Wichita, the synodical missionary for the Synod of Missouri, the Reverend Timothy Hill, sent the Reverend Wilberforce K. Boggs there to organize a church. With the help of William Finn, who had founded the village’s first school in an abandoned military dugout at what is now the southwest corner of Twelfth and Jackson Streets, a Sunday school was organized. During the winter, Boggs conducted worship services. On March 13, 1870, the First Presbyterian Church of Wichita was organized with thirteen charter members. In the fall, work was started on a frame building at the corner of Wichita and Second Streets.

The Red Brick Church Era (1876-1906)

Harsen continued as pastor until 1879. He was described by Kos Harris, Wichita historian, as “a pioneer man, a frontier parson.” By 1879, Wichita’s cowtown days were over; she was settling into her new role as an agricultural center. First Presbyterian Church in Wichita, too, was settling into her fine new building and she now wanted a pulpit orator. Harsen was described as “a student, a pastor,” but not a pulpit orator. He was asked to leave. Membership had grown from 30 to 217.

The Stone Church (1912-Present)

In 1906, plans were made to build First Presbyterian Church of Wichita’s imposing Gothic structure. Some members

wanted it nearer the North End residential areas, then the city's finest, while others, most notably A.A. Hyde, best known as the inventor of Mentholatum, wanted it east of the railroad tracks that run through the city. First Church moved north to Lawrence (Broadway) Avenue and Elm Street to what is now the north edge of the central business district.

To contact us:

First Presbyterian Church

525 N. Broadway

Wichita, Kansas 67214

525 N. Broadway, Wichita, Kansas 67214

Phone: 316-263-0248—Fax: 316-263-3237

Questions or Comments? email Janet

Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from the sale of the old “brick church,” however, were allotted to the east side group, and Grace Presbyterian Church, with 158 members from First Presbyterian Church of Wichita, was founded.

On November 13, 1910, the cornerstone of the new church, which was designed by the Cleveland, Ohio firm of Badgley and Nicklas was laid.

The Sanctuary Building was constructed under the supervision of an Executive Building Committee of seven. There was no senior pastor

during this time. The Rev. Thomas Parry had resigned because of ill health. His replacement, the Reverend Andrew Brodie, did not arrive until March 1912.

Architects Badgley and Nicklas designed the building, based on the numbers three and eight. Much of the carving on the furniture and woodwork ends in three points, symbolizing the trinity. The eight columns represent the eight people who survived the flood in Genesis: Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives. They represent the foundation of the Christian church, just as the eight columns represent the foundation of First Presbyterian Church of Wichita. Light is admitted through the lantern (dome). In the early days, the choir often sang from the lantern

and then moved down to the choir loft.

After meeting at the Lewis Academy for three years, the congregation began moving into the uncompleted building. The first meeting was a Christian Endeavor prayer meeting on Nov. 12, 1911. The building was completed in the spring of 1912 and on April 7, 1912, the Reverend Andrew Melrose Brodie preached the first sermon in the sanctuary that still serves First Church.