First Presbyterian Church – Coldwater

Located on Marshall Street in front of the First Presbyterian Church, the Historic Marker text:

Organized in 1837, the same year that Coldwater became a village, the local Presbyterian society held services in various quarters until 1844 when it erected its first church.  It completed the present Romanesque Revival-style brick church in 1869 at a cost of $40,104.  The 185 foot steeple, one of the chief landmarks of the city, was made possible by a gift from S. M. Seely.  The Meneely bell came from West Troy, New York, in 1853.  In early times, the church of ten served as a lecture and concert hall.  Sojourner Truth, former slave and early women’s rights activist, spoke her in 1877.  This church building is now the oldest in the city still in use by its original denomination.  In 1986 it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

HISTORIAN NOTES (D. L. McDonald):  Not only does the First Presbyterian Church have the distinction of being the oldest ongoing denomination in the same building, but the original 1844 framed church that they built next to the 4-Corners Park downtown Coldwater is still being operated as a church at the northwest corner of South Jefferson & Perkin Streets in the city.  Their first building was moved around 1856/57 to their new property at the corner of Marshall & Church Streets.  In 1868 they sold the little wood framed building to St. Paul’s Lutheran for $500.  It was moved to its current location where the Lutheran congregation utilized the building until 1959.  It has now been functioning as a church building for 175 years.