A historic 1840 bell will peal forth loudly from the tower of Westminster Presbyterian Church on May 18, calling parishioners to gather in celebration of the church’s 190th anniversary. Inside, starting at 10 a.m., a festive service will include trumpets, three special anthems – including one from 1835 (under the direction of Dale Rogers) and solemn worship. After, people will gather for a dinner reception with reenactors portraying Abiah Hale and her husband, Rev. Albert Hale, the minister who led the church from 1839-1867.
The Rev. Blythe Denham Kieffer said, “We will honor our history and our successes over the many years, welcome six former pastors, and celebrate faith and our commitment to advocacy.”
Former pastors who will be in attendance are senior minister Dr. Lonnie Lee (1995-2012), associate pastors Dr. Shelly White Wood (2001-2006) and Rev. Mark Merrill (2002-2010), Rev. Tasha Blackburn (2007-2012), Rev. Hannah Dreitcer Zyla (2014-2017), and Rev. Trajan Illiff McGill (2015-2021). The church has had a total of 18 pastors.
In 1834, Albert Hale and Theron Baldwin were sent to Illinois by the American Home Mission Society, founded in 1826 to help ensure that Illinois would remain a free state. The men led revival meetings, a new concept at the time. Both were members of the Yale Band, not a musical group, but graduates of Yale College who supported anti-slavery and helped establish churches and other institutions such as Illinois College. The college’s first president was Edward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brother.
The First Presbyterian Church was founded in 1828; by 1834, 30 members, including its pastor, John Bergen, decided to split from the church. They built a small, one-story structure on the northeast corner of Fourth and Monroe streets (a post office now is at this site) which opened in May 1835 as Second Presbyterian Church. Hale joined the church as its first pastor in 1839. The church became known as the abolitionist church.
With growth in members, a new building was needed. It was erected across the street, on the west side of Fourth Street between Monroe and Adams streets. Designed by John Francis Rague, the architect of the Old State Capitol, the new church cost $14,000 to build. It could hold 300 people and housed a new, large bell in a square belfry.
The bell had been made in 1840 at the George Holbrook Foundry in East Medley, Massachusetts. Holbrook’s father had been an apprentice to Paul Revere. The bell traveled by ship along the East Coast and around Florida to New Orleans and then up the Mississippi. For many years, the bell pealed forth on Sundays and also served as a public fire alarm in the city and rang out for the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation. The church was used by the Illinois House of Representatives during the construction of the Old State Capitol. The second church building served parishioners until 1870.
A third structure, built in a Romanesque design, was erected in 1869 south of the 1839 church on the corner of Fourth and Monroe streets. The bell rang from its new tower until 1905 when it was put in storage as a new, larger church was built at Walnut and Edwards streets. Many said it was at “the end of nowhere” and “no one will ever go way out there to church.” But plans went ahead, and the new church was completed in 1908 in an early 13th century Gothic style. The building committee was headed by Clinton Conkling, whose family had been friends with Abraham Lincoln.
The church was known as Second Presbyterian until 1919, when the congregation voted to change the name to Westminster Presbyterian.
Over the years many renovations and additions have been made, including an education wing in 1954 and completion of the bell tower to its full height in 1956. The latter project was paid for by Katharine McCormick, Clinton Conkling’s daughter, in memory of her parents. Once again, the bell rang on Sunday mornings.
A memorial garden was added in 2001, and a major renovation in 2002 remodeled classrooms and offices. An organ built by Robert Dial of Springfield was installed in 2003, and in 2020 the parking lot was expanded, the east entry and west terrace were renovated, and the grounds upgraded.
Rev. Kieffer, who will be retiring in the fall, said significant work has been done during her 12-year tenure as pastor, assisted by an endowment campaign that began in 1999 and by 2020 had grown from $1.9 million to $8.1 million.
The church has also made it a point to invest in the surrounding neighborhood.
“We started the Steadfast Neighbor Endeavor, which has designated $450,000 for the neighborhood around us,” said Kieffer. “We have built a Habitat for Humanity house and help provide items for the micropantry at Graham Elementary School, just to name a few. So far, we have invested $235,00 for our area.”
Westminster Presbyterian Church has a long, storied history over its 190 years. Let the bell continue to ring joyously for many more years to come.
Cinda Ackerman Klickna loves learning and writing about local history.