Our History
This synopsis history was written with great respect and honor for the historians, pastors, officers and members of First Presbyterian Church of Liberty. Many more complete documents can be found in the church archives, including a 32-page booklet written for the church’s 150th anniversary in 1977.
First Presbyterian Church of Liberty was born after an ordained missionary, the Reverend Hiram Chamberlain, was sent from New York in August 1829 to establish a church in the newly incorporated city of Liberty, Missouri. The first service was held August 29, 1829, in a grove of trees on the northeast corner of Morse and Kansas streets. Rev. Chamberlain was assisted by the Reverend N.B. Dodge of Harmony Mission in Bates County, Missouri. They appointed three elders: Robert Elliott, James McWilliams and William Modrel. The original congregation had 16 members – 11 women and 5 men.
Rev. Chamberlain went on to start mission churches across Missouri, Tennessee and Texas.
Over its first 24 years, the congregation met at private homes, rented commercial buildings, shared a building with a Baptist church and even gathered in the Clay County Courthouse.
In 1852 the land where the church now sits, at Mississippi and Main streets, was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Ringo. The original church building was constructed of handmade bricks in the 1850s. The structure was designed by Willis Polk of Kansas City, who would go on to great fame as an architect in San Francisco.
The bell that now hangs in the church’s bell tower was given to the church in 1853 by Elizabeth Drew Thompson.
A fire in 1857 destroyed all the church’s records.
The church did not have a pastor or regular minister during the Civil War but was held together by a dedicated congregation. In 1868 the Reverend David Coulter became pastor and did much work to restore and build up the church. He departed in 1872.
In 1878 Anna Thompson and Dora Miller were authorized to purchase a clock for the church. This clock, from Cady & Ohmstead Jewelry Company in Kansas City, still hangs on the east wall of the sanctuary.
In 1877, when the church celebrated its 50th anniversary, it was estimated that more than 400 people had been members.
In early 1887 the Reverend James Green called for constructing a new church. The cornerstone was laid on November 20, 1888. The first service in the sanctuary was led by the Reverend E. McNair on July 21, 1889. This structure is, for the most part, the building in which we worship today.
The Chancel and Choir Room section was added in 1949, completing the original church plan that had been put on hold due to shortage of funds. When completed, Cecil Faubion and Robert Evans donated time and labor to redecorate.
A two-story dwelling south of the sanctuary was used for classes, a library, the church office and a crib nursery. The building came to be known as Termite Manor.
In March 1961 a committee was formed, under the leadership of the Reverend Julian Houston, to research erecting an education building south of the sanctuary. Four lots were purchased around the church. Architects were engaged in 1962. They incorporated the arches around the sanctuary’s windows into the design, including a walkway between the existing building and the new one. An open house for the Education Building took place December 8, 1963.
The church razed three dwellings it owned across Main Street from its campus and created a public park, featuring a gazebo and several benches. The church pays for its maintenance and upkeep.
In 1989 part of the sanctuary was destroyed by another fire. Through the heroic and careful efforts of several firefighters, the Rose Window (pictured above) was eventually restored to its original state.
In the early 2000s, after the Clay County Board of Election Commissioners moved out of a former residence south of the Education Building, the church bought the rundown structure, razed it and built a parking lot.
The sanctuary’s original slate roof was replaced in 2002 after 112 years of service. These slates were sold at the Liberty Fall Festival to celebrate the history of First Presbyterian Church.
More recently the church was damaged by a tornado in 2003 and by lightning strikes in 2009 and 2010. Worship services were not interrupted thanks to the hard work and leadership of our pastors, our Scout Troop 374, people in the community and congregation members.
The worldwide Covid-19 epidemic led to a ban on convening on the campus for worship services and other gatherings in 2020. But thanks to computers, cameras and the Internet, worship, learning and administrative functions continued, and we were able to reconvene in 2022.
Service to the Liberty community has always been a hallmark of First Presbyterian. Here are just a few ways the congregation has reached out beyond Mississippi and Main over the last 70 years:
● The Fellowship of the Concerned was launched in 1962 to help ease racial tensions. First Presbyterian men, led by Joe Wally, joined with other Liberty churches to create a multiracial group that battled racist practices, offered financial relief to the disadvantaged, established a library and laundry for inmates at the city jail, sponsored the annual Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, launched The Escape coffeehouse in a converted ice house near Franklin Elementary School and awarded college scholarships to Liberty and Liberty North high school students. Hundreds turned out for the group’s annual fundraiser, a chili dinner held in Fellowship Hall.
● The Habitat for Humanity of Kansas City chapter was established in 1979 by members John and Mary Pritchard to provide free housing to indigent families.
● Hillcrest Ministries, formed in the 1970s by Ben and Pat Beltzer, worked to stop homelessness. It is now known as Hillcrest Hope.
● The Incident Youth Center was a place for teenagers to hang out, enjoy snacks and listen to music on Friday and Saturday evenings in the lower level of the sanctuary. The name came from an “incident” in which some black youths were told to leave a Liberty business, sparking a confrontation. Harold and Anna Margaret McGuire spearheaded the project in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.
● The federal Head Start program used the church for classes for preschoolers from 1985 to the mid-1990s.
● Noah’s Place, a day-care center, operated in the early 2000s.
● Day camps are held for a week in the summer on the church campus and in the park. Volunteers from the congregation and staffers from Heartland Center in Parkville, Missouri, provide Bible lessons, fun and meals to dozens of kids in first through sixth grades.
● The Little Free Pantry is a cabinet stocked with groceries at Mississippi and Gallatin streets. People can take as many items as they need, without charge.
● Johnny’s Cafe, started in 2024, offers a free lunch once a month in Fellowship Hall to anyone who is hungry. Two other churches, Liberty Christian and Liberty United Methodist, also prepare monthly meals for Johnny’s Cafe.