CHURCH HISTORY

1876 - As part of the national centennial observance, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church authorizes formation of a new synod in Northwest, including Presbytery of Puget Sound.

1882 - Presbytery appoints Joseph Spangler to do missionary work in what is now Whatcom, San Juan, Skagit and Island counties. No Presbyterian congregations yet in the area. Fifty families migrate from Kansas to Bellingham Bay to build sawmill at mouth of Whatcom Creek. Logging spurs economy; population grows from 400 to almost 1,200 over the next four years.

1883 - Spangler dies. Rev. Beveridge Knox McElmon appointed to replace him. He does some of his preaching in logging camp saloons along the upper Nooksack.

1884 - Presbytery instructs McElmon to organize churches at New Whatcom (also known as Sehome) and south Bellingham (Fairhaven.) McElmon gathers a few Scottish and Welsh residents and begins holding services in a school house. First communion service held August 24. The congregation is known simply as "First Church."

1885 - Church women organize a Sunday school; participants seldom number more than fifteen.

1886-89 - Hopes for rail service remain frustrated. Economy stagnates. Only seven new members join fledgling church over these years and some early members drift away.

1889 - First Church, still with just twenty members, purchases a lot at High and Maple streets. McElmon, members and neighbors pitch in to build a church, at a cost of $3,000. The new church is dedicated November 10. Washington Territory becomes a state the next day. McElmon resigns. Pulpit vacant for eight weeks. Great Northern Railroad reaches Bellingham Bay.

1891 - Rev. Anselm Brown called by First Church congregation. Music and service becomes more tightly-organized. "Mr. Webber" organizes a quartet to sing. The weekly program: Doxology, invocation, Lord's Prayer, scripture reading, singing, lengthy extemporaneous prayer by pastor, hymn of praise, personal testimonies, announcements, sermon (45 minutes to an hour), prayer, offering, singing, benediction.

1891 - Annie Llewellyn, one of thirteen charter members, is called before Session accused of "laxness in all religious duties, selling whiskey, and keeping her store open on the Sabbath." Mrs. Llewellyn repented in public and was allowed to remain in the church. But daughter, Lizzie, defied Session and was excommunicated the next year.

1892 - Brown resigns. First Church, unable to afford its own minister, is served by Rev. W.A. Mackey, pastor of the church in Fairhaven.

1893 - Rev. Walter B. Floyd called. Half his $1,200 per year salary to be paid by Board of Home Missions in Philadelphia. But Floyd resigns after four months, possibly due to financial difficulties. Rev. John A. McArthur called to replace him. His salary is $1,000 per year.

1895 - McArthur resigns to accept call in Waterville. Rev. Donald Ross replaces him.

1896 - Ross resigns; Congregation cannot muster even their half of his meager salary in these depressed times. Collections for year totaled just $650. A special offering for St. Luke's Hospital raises $2.80, but trustees decide that First Church needs to keep the money. Rev. Mackey of Fairhaven accepts call to First Church, soon to be known as First Presbyterian Church of Bellingham after the new city is formed from towns along the bay. Membership rolls list eighty persons; Sunday school enrollment is 112.

1898-99 - Alaska gold rush spurs West Coast economy; Bellingham lumber mills and coal mines enjoy modest boom and population grows. But number of churches grows too. FPC membership, still based on Scottish and Welsh families, grows but slowly. Trustees pay little attention to church finances. Home Missions support is reduced when they fail to do the required paperwork. Congregation considers replacing trustees with members of Ladies Aid Society. Presbytery vetoes the idea: Church officers must be men. But Presbytery later relents and allows formation of "Ways and Means Committee" with three men and three women. Fund-raising becomes more successful. Mackay's salary is still just $950 a year.

1899 - Feeling a bit flush, church buys 60 chairs, improves gaslight system, adds Sunday School rooms. Sunday attendance tops 200 for the first time. 1904 - Home Missions Board declares FPC to be self-supporting. Mackey now earns $1,300 a year. Congregation pledges $10 per year to support Whitworth College.

1905 - Mackey resigns. A "Rev. Murphy," otherwise unidentified, fills in for a few months. Rev. John Robertson Macartney, though less than 30 years old, called as new pastor.

1906 - Macartney leads $3,000 fund drive for FPC's first organ, managing to get contributions even from civic-minded non-members.

1907 - FPC sends its first commissioner to General Assembly: R.S. Simpson and wife travel to Columbus, Ohio for the event. FPC formally incorporates under state law.

1908 - Active members number 22l with 316 in Sunday School. The Christian Endeavor societies provide service opportunities for young people. Missionary Society and Ladies Aid Society also active. Macartney's preaching and excellent music program regularly draws crowds that overflow the church.

1909 - Building committee recommends purchase of lot at Garden and Maple Streets for $4,600 in anticipation of the eventual construction of a new church.

1910 - Lot purchased; ceremonial groundbreaking in July. Cornerstone laid in November during a lengthy outdoor ceremony in a torrential downpour. Billy Sunday brings his revival movement to Bellingham, preaches at FPC and elsewhere. Lutherans agree to purchase old building for $2,500, bell and organ not included.

1912 - FPC members begin worshiping in basement of new building on March 1 as sanctuary construction continues. Building dedication service takes place March 3, with Rev. McElmon presiding. Contributors provide memorial windows, including large one at rear of church to remember Rev. James Thompson, pastor of church in Fairhaven who was among scores killed in an avalanche that buried a train at Stevens Pass the previous year.

1912-1913 - New building finished at a cost of $67,000. Pastor and Sunday school youth help carry organ pipes down the hill to new location. Opening services in the Sanctuary take place April 27, 1913, and the large front window is unveiled at 3 pm that day. Macartney, a political activist, is a fervent preacher for prohibition. During a Sunday service, suspected “wet” partisan shoots holes in main stained glass window with bird shot. But Bellingham voters, not impressed, vote to go dry.

A Brief History