First Presbyterian Church

First Presbyterian Church in Fargo was founded in 1877 with a congregation of nine people. With no church building, the built a small wooden shack on a small parcel of land donated by SG Roberts at the corner of 1st Ave and 8th Street North. This remained as the church for approximately the next twenty-eight years. At that time the church was sold to PT Tendick who moved the church and remodeled it into a housing complex. After the original church was moved, a new brick building was built in 1906, with seating for 425 people. This building was used by the church until 1929 when it was determined that a new church was needed as the congregation had surpassed thirteen hundred people. Between 1916 and 1918, the all black congregation of the First Baptist Church used the basement of the church for its services. It is not clear why these services were held here instead of at their normal church for such a brief period. The current property was not big enough to house the new church that was needed, so the land along with the church was sold to the US post office as site for its new building.

First Presbyterian bought the land they currently occupy on 2nd Ave between Roberts and 7th Streets North in 1929 and built the current church you see today. The church itself is built in gothic traditional style with outside made up of mostly neutral colored bricks. Up until 2002, the church under went very little change except for the heavy renovation it underwent in 1985. In 2002, the church started a massive expansion project that took little over a year to complete. It added on new office space as well as general meeting and classroom areas, added modern elevators to reach the second floor balcony in the church and added the modern foyer that you see today.

Sources:

1. Fargo Historic Preservation Commission. A Look Around Downtown: Fargo Heritage Discovery Walk. Second. Fargo, North Dakota: Fargo-Moorhead Heritage Society, 2006.
2. “First Presbyterian Church | Fargo History.” Accessed December 9, 2016. https://library.ndsu.edu/fargo-history/?q=content/first-presbyterian-church.

Photo Sources:

1. “First Presbyterian Church Fargo, ND - History.” Accessed December 9, 2016. http://www.firstpresfargo.org/history/.
2. Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU, Fargo (2042.6.16)
3. Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU, Fargo (2041.22.6)
4. Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU, Fargo (2023.L-188)