The Old Stone Church is a historic

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

located in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, and is the oldest building on

Public Square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true square, geometric square, used for community gathe ...

. It is also the second church built within the city limits."First Presbyterian Church (Old Stone)"
Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, March 27, 1998. Accessed October 23, 2006.

History

In June 1819, the Union Sunday School began meeting on the site of the current church, and on September 19, 1820, fifteen Clevelanders, some ten percent of the then-village's population, signed a charter officially establishing the congregation. It was formally incorporated in 1827 as The First Presbyterian Society, and in 1834 the first church was built out of gray

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

. The interior featured a gallery suspended by iron rods, reportedly a first in a Cleveland public building, as well as the city's first

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

. Because of its building materials, First Presbyterian was called "the Stone Church," and as other stone churches were erected in the area, it became known as the "Old Stone Church.""Old Stone History"
Old Stone Church. Accessed October 23, 2006. By 1853, the congregation had outgrown the original building, so the church was razed, and a larger replacement was built on the same spot. The

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

church, dedicated on August 12, 1855, was also made of local sandstone, and was designed by architects Charles Heard and Simeon Porter.

A series of fires

Nineteen months later, on March 7, 1857, fire struck the church. Water from the hand-pumped

fire engine A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an i ...

s was unable to reach the 250-foot

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...

, which came crashing down onto Ontario Street. Despite this, the building remained mostly intact, and reconstruction began almost immediately. The church was rededicated on January 17, 1858. Cleveland OH Old Stone Church PHS857

The second fire occurred on January 5, 1884, spreading to the church from the adjoining Wick Building's Park Theater. Despite the sturdy construction of the building, the interior was gutted. Afterward, the congregation considered a move to E. 55th Street and Euclid Avenue, but it was eventually decided to keep the original location, after pressure from influential members including

John Hay John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, Hay's highest office was Un ...

. Architect

Charles Schweinfurth Charles Schweinfurth (April 13, 1890 – November 16, 1970) was an American botanist and plant collector who distinguished himself by his studies on orchids. He predominantly collected species from Peru which he described in his four volume refer ...

was hired to head the reconstruction of the church, which was dedicated on October 19, 1884. Subsequent additions to the church include three

Louis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows, a

John La Farge John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics. La Farge is best known for ...

triple window overlooking Public Square, and a

Holtkamp Organ Company The Holtkamp Organ Company of Cleveland, Ohio is one of America's oldest builders of pipe organs. Founded in 1855 by G.F. Votteler, the company was passed on to the Holtkamps in 1931. Under the direction of Walter Holtkamp Sr., the company became ...

organ.

Present day

The Old Stone Church has stood virtually unchanged to this day, and is the last remaining church designed by the Heard and Porter architectural firm. The only major modification was the 1999 addition of a steeple that replicated the original, part of a $2.4 million renovation project, which also included cleaning the Berea sandstone (which had turned black from

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...

) and conservation of the La Farge window. The Old Stone Church was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1973."Old Stone Church"
Emporis. Accessed October 25, 2006.

Clergy (1820–1920)

Samuel C. Aiken (page 115 crop).jpg, Samuel Clark Aiken, 1835-1861 William H. Goodrich (page 161 crop).jpg,

William Henry Goodrich William Henry Goodrich (January 19, 1823 – July 11, 1874) was a 19th-century American clergyman, the namesake of the Goodrich Social Settlement in Cleveland, Ohio. He served as pastor of First Church, Bristol, Connecticut (1850-54); Presbyteria ...

, 1858-1874 Hiram C. Haydn (page 269 crop).jpg,

Hiram Collins Haydn Rev. Hiram Collins Haydn (December 11, 1831 – July, 31, 1913) was an American minister and the fifth President of Western Reserve University, now Case Western Reserve University. Biography Haydn was born in Pompey, New York, December ...

, 1872-1880; 1884-1902 Arthur Mitchell 1835-1893 (page 239 crop).jpg, Arthur Mitchell, 1880-1884 Andrew Barclay Meldrum (page 383 crop).jpg, Andrew Barclay Meldrum

References

External links

Old Stone ChurchOhio and Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
{{authority control Churches in Downtown Cleveland Romanesque Revival church buildings in Ohio Presbyterian churches in Ohio Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Religious organizations established in 1820 Churches completed in 1855 19th-century Presbyterian church buildings in the United States Sandstone churches in the United States Stone churches in Ohio 1820 establishments in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Cleveland, Ohio History of Cleveland