The Disciples of Christ: The Christian Church, 1844 and 1851

First organized summer 1844, four miles north of the city — city nucleus organized spring 1851 — first building in the city completed spring 1852 — First Christian Church dedicated October 2, 1909

The country organization: The Christian Church of South Bend was first organized in the summer of 1844, four miles north of the city, with a membership of twelve. W. McIlvaine was appointed elder, and meetings were held every Lord’s Day, the church enjoying occasionally preaching by John Martindale, Reuben Wilson, and others. Howard places the same first organization on Portage Prairie, at a point about four miles north of the city limits, and names the Rev. W. McIlvaine as the first pastor.

The city nucleus: The congregation’s own historical sketch, published at the dedication of its new church in 1909, tells the city founding as a second beginning. The nucleus of the present church was organized in the spring of 1851 at the home of Robert Wilson. John Ireland and Washington McIlvaine were elected elders; Robert Wilson, Joseph Morehouse, and Ariel Drapier, deacons. For some time the meetings were held alternately in the school house and in the county seminary building, which stood where the high school later stood. Howard gives the same removal from the other side: in the spring of 1851 Elder McIlvaine secured the old seminary on West Washington, where services were held for a year. Later a lot was purchased for 225 dollars, and by the spring of 1852 a brick structure, 36 by 50 feet, was completed; the dedicatory services were conducted by Elder John O’Kain of Indianapolis.

The course: The church started without any regular pastor, the elders George Campbell, David Miller, Reuben Wilson, and William Roe officiating, and it had a precarious existence for a number of years, its regular weekly communion a mark of the congregation. A revival late in 1855, conducted by Elder Horner, added 21 names to the roll. On September 28, 1863, the Rev. George Watson Hemry became the first regular pastor. Howard carries the congregation to the lot on the east side of Main Street, between Wayne and Division, where a larger building was erected in 1878 and afterwards materially enlarged, and names the pastors after McIlvaine: John Martindale, Reuben Wilson, Gideon Drapier, Frederick J. Thomas, and their successors to G. W. Henry, the pastor of 1907. The Indiana Avenue Christian Church and the Linden Avenue Christian Church stood as the other Disciples congregations of Howard’s survey.

The 1909 church: On Sunday, October 2, 1909, the congregation dedicated its new First Christian Church on South Main Street, near the heart of the city, with the Rev. Charles Reign Scoville in charge of the dedicatory services. The edifice, Gothic in scheme, cost approximately 45,000 dollars completely furnished. The historical sketch read in that season, from the church’s own published history of June 6, 1909, records that the Disciples movement in the community was almost contemporary with the history of South Bend itself, though its records were very incomplete. A 1901 city history lists the congregation among the city’s churches as the Central Church of Christ; the congregation worships today as First Christian Church.

Sources:

1. Chas. C. Chapman & Co., History of St. Joseph County, Indiana (1880), “Christian” — the summer 1844 organization four miles north of the city, the twelve members, McIlvaine as elder, and the 1851 removal to the South Bend Seminary.
2. Timothy Edward Howard, A History of St. Joseph County, Indiana (1907), Sec. 9 — the Portage Prairie organization, the 1851 seminary year, the Main Street lot and the 1878 building, the pastor succession, and the Indiana Avenue and Linden Avenue churches.
3. The New Era (Northern Indiana), dedication number for the First Christian Church (1909), preserved by Michiana Memory, St. Joseph County Public Library — the spring 1851 nucleus at Robert Wilson’s home, the officers, the 225-dollar lot and the brick church of spring 1852, Hemry as first regular pastor from September 28, 1863, and the October 2, 1909 dedication and its cost.
4. Anderson & Cooley, South Bend and the Men Who Have Made It (1901) — the congregation listed as the Central Church of Christ among the churches of the city.