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Pictures: United Presbyterian Church, as first started December 20, 1942; Present United Presbyterian Church

THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

       The people who were to become the first members of the Stanwood United Presbyterian Church immigrated from Scotland and Northern Ireland. They settled in Red Oak and Fremont Townships in the period between 1842 and 1862. During their very early years here, these pioneers worshiped with various existing church groups always hoping to have their own church.

       The organization took place on January 25, 1868, in a schoolhouse believed to have been the school that stood at that time north of the Bill Davidson farm home. The name given to the new congregation was the “Fremont United Presbyterian church,” honoring the township. Of the seventeen charter members, fourteen were Davidsons and three were Safleys. In the months that followed, some services were held in the schoolhouse where the organization had been effected and others in the schoolhouse which was located near the present Ed Davidson farm home.

       When the town of Stanwood was laid out in the next year, the little congregation changed its meeting place to an unfinished store building on what is now Stanwood’s Broadway. The first house of worship was erected a year later, in 1870, on a lot donated by W. C. and S. M. Maley, the site being that of the home of the late Henry Haesemeyer. The 40 foot by 50 foot structure was topped by a spire 105 feet tall. The cost of the building was almost $4,000.

       In July 1870 the name of the congregation was changed to the Stanwood United Presbyterian Church. Under the leadership of the first resident pastor, the Rev. William J. Lorimer (1870-1873), the congregation grew to sixty five members. The first church building was partially destroyed by a wind storm in 1882. Following this disaster, the site was sold and a new site purchased about a block north of the first one. Here a new church was erected, approximately where the present United Presbyterian church stands. By salvaging much of the lumber from the first church, the cost of the new one was held down to $2,500.

       The first parsonage, purchased in 1886, was located north of town, where Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Martin now live. The church sold this property in 1891 and bought the site of the present parsonage, just south of the church. Within the year the parsonage and a barn were built at a cost of a little over $2,300.

       In 1896 the congregation had 111 members. In 1903 the membership had increased to 139. The Sunday school was functioning well by 1881, when the first lesson helps were put into use. For quite a number of years the Sunday school convened after the morning worship, rather than preceding it.

       Within the church, two women’s organizations have lent their strength and effectiveness to all the undertakings of the congregation. They are the Women’s Missionary Society (UPW) organized in 1884, and the Ways and Means Society which was begun in 1906. Each meets monthly and have one joint meeting during the year.

       Memorial art windows were installed in the church about 1913. These exceptionally beautiful windows, each depicting a Holy Land scene, added much to the atmosphere of worship.

       On December 20, 1942, a fire which started in the walls around the chimney was discovered too late; the church burned. Fortunately, furnishings including the pews and piano were gotten out. While a new church was being planned and built, the congregation worshiped for over a year in the local high school. On May 7, 1944 the present church building was dedicated—free of debt. The worship services of the congregation have been much enriched in recent years by the use of an electric organ, a memorial gift.

       In 1954 the Red Oak Grove Presbyterian Church and the Stanwood United Presbyterian Church came to an agreement to share a pastor, an arrangement which has proved eminently satisfactory to both congregations. They enjoy a fine fellowship, not only through their common leader but through the union of their two youth groups and get-togethers of the adults.

       On June 5, 1968 appropriate ceremonies by the congregation and visiting dignitaries marked the centennial of the founding of the Stanwood Union Presbyterian Church. It is now launched on its second hundred years!

       The church has seen six of its young people go into full time Christian service Two were the sons of Ebenezer Davidson: The Rev. R. J. Davidson, D. D. and the Rev. E. R. Davidson, who were ordained in 1882 and 1894 respectively. The third was the son of James Davidson, the Rev. W. C. Davidson, ordained in 1896. Lifelong “foreign” missionaries were F. S. Hoyman, who served Egypt and Charlotte Claney (Lambie) who with her husband, Dr. Tom Lambie, served in Egypt and Ethiopia. This couple became personal friends of Halilie Salassie, Emperor of Ethiopia. For many years Miss Euphemia Davidson, daughter of James K. Davidson, was a devoted teacher in the mission school of Appalachia.

       Short term teachers in our Egypt missions have been Avis Hoyman (Lyon), Miriam Davidson (Wilson), Carol Evers (Chorlain), and Lilian Davidson.