OUR HISTORY

We have been ministering to residents of Washington, Missouri, since 1850. We currently have 122 members (2013). Our denomination traces its beginnings to 16th century Europe when John Calvin (of Switzerland) and John Knox (of Scotland) established Presbyterianism. Several signers of the Declaration of Independence were Presbyterians, and since 1983 our local church has belonged to the national Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Our church is a member of the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy.

The Presbyterian Church of Washington brings together the traditional and the new as we seek to worship and serve God together. As we remember God’s faithfulness in the past, we are called to serve God today in new ways. In 1993, we moved from a small traditional building to a modern facility. Our traditional stained glass windows brought from the previous church building blends into the contemporary architecture of our new sanctuary. In 2025, we celebrated our 175th anniversary. 

In 1850, Rev. Robertson, Rev. Fenton, and Dr. Benjamin Burch requested permission of the St. Louis Presbytery to establish a Presbyterian Church. It was to be the third established church in Washington, following the establishment of St. Francis Catholic Church and a German Protestant church, now St. Peters United Church of Christ, in the mid-1840s. In 1851 a plot was purchased at 4th and Market in Washington for the purpose of building a church. One of the holders of the deed for that property was Elijah McClean, who had instructed and supervised Dr. Burch in the practice of medicine and later shared a building housing their medical offices.

The church was built in 1852, and in that same year Dr. McClean became an elder in the Presbyterian Church of Washington. In 1857 he became Clerk of Session, a post he held (depending on which resource you read) for 30-36 years. In 1859, they purchased a lot at 2nd and Market for the construction of a school.

Then in 1860, the U.S. Civil War interrupted everyone’s lives. Under the Missouri Compromise, Missouri had entered the Union as a slave state (in fact African American slaves were on the membership rolls of the Presbyterian Church of Washington), but Missouri did not join the Confederacy. Inflamed opinions and passions in our state for the righteousness of the cause of either North or South were often destructive.

Dr. Burch believed passionately in the cause of the South, and in 1862 he led 30 members out of the Presbyterian Church of Washington. By 1868 this group had built their own church on that recently purchased lot at 2nd and Market. They called themselves the First Presbyterian Church of Washington. Locals referred to them as “Dr. Burch’s Church” and to the church at 4th and Market as “Dr. McLean’s Church.” Each church initiated lawsuits to lay claim to both properties. One source claimed that Dr. McClean was very concerned that Dr. Burch’s church had spirited away the church bell. During the 1950 Centennial celebration, a long-lived member of our church recalled this as a time of “devious tricks.” Often guards were posted at each church; on one occasion, one of Dr. Burch’s German speaking guards was reassured, through an interpreter, that his watch was over and he could go home. One of Dr. McClean’s guards then took his place. This bitter state of affairs went on for eleven years and then, in 1879, it was over. The churches reconciled and reunited. For a period of time they worshipped at 4th and Market in the summer and in the winter at the 2nd and Market church.

The generosity of members made many things possible. A manse was built in 1898. A new church was built in 1916 at 4th and Market, replacing the first church. A new organ in 1933, stained glass windows in 1945, and an addition in 1955 for Sunday School and Fellowship all followed. In the 1990s it was decided that the congregation and its mission could best be served with a new church, and that is the building in which we worship today. The church at 4th and Market is now home to the Washington Historical Society. In 1883 Dr. McClean bought the 2nd and Market property for a school to be administered by his sister-in-law, and much later it was sold to the Washington School District. It still stands and now says “VoAg Shop” over the front door.

Dr. Elijah McClean was not only interested in and dedicated to this church, but to civic affairs as well. In 1830 he was elected to the Missouri state legislature as the youngest member to that date. He was married twice. His first wife passed after 24 years of marriage; no children were born to that union. Seven children were born to his second union. The McClean family’s final resting place is at the Presbyterian Cemetery on Pottery Road.