Pacific Presbyterian Church, Oldest Public Building in the City, Gets New Life as Downtown Business Hub

By Pauline Masson – 

The Pacific Presbyterian congregation has sold the beautiful yellow brick Presbyterian Church, the service building, church office building next door and the surrounding 0.67 acre lot at the corner of St. Louis and Fourth streets.

Aldermen approved rezoning the property from R1-A residential to C1 commercial at the April 1 board of aldermen (BOA) meeting, which allows the church and service building – which in recent years housed free Thursday suppers – to be redeveloped as an office complex for small business operators.

Due to declining membership, Pacific Presbyterian Church was put up for sale. Brian Smith, State Farm Insurance agent, the buyer, appeared at the April 1 (BOA) meeting, where he discussed his plans for the property. The congregation will continue to worship in the church temporarily

Mr. Smith plans to redevelop the property as a small business hub of offices and meeting rooms in keeping with the renaissance presently underway on St. Louis Street. He said as included in the sale contract, the congregation has a year to vacate the building but he was not opposed to them staying longer. 

Once the property is vacated, the sanctuary is to be reconfigured for office space. Mr. Smith has a friend who has completed a similar project in Washington. It attracts small business owners that work from home, he said. All the needs for a business office will be provided, such as Internet, and access to conference rooms. Outside people can also rent the conference room space. 

The church office, adjacent to the church, is currently two big rooms set up as offices and a conference room downstairs, which fits what Mr. Smith is doing with the church. The house is sound and in good order, he said. The main purpose of this is for Mr. Smith’s’ State Farm office.

History of Pacific Presbyterian Church

The Pacific Presbyterian Church was formed in 1864. The new congregation held church services in people’s homes, in the frame schoolhouse at Fourth and Osage streets and the old Masonic Hall.

In 1867 the congregation bought The Stone Church, a huge structure for a city of 500, at the corner of West St. Louis and Fourth streets.

Identified as a Union church, construction of The Stone Church was attributed Henry Close, who came to Pacific in 1853 as a builder for the Pacific Railroad. He also built the brick Pacific Public School at West Union and Third streets. 

At that time the only other local house of worship was the Catholic parish church located on Hwy OO north of the city. The church, identified as Downpatrick, a mission church of St.Patrick’s of Armagh in Catawissa. The Catholic parish church was relocated to Pacific during the Civil War and named St. Bridget of Kildare.

For 158 years the Pacific Presbyterian Church was the site of some of the communities biggest music recitals, quilt fairs, outdoor Nativity Scene displays, Sunrise Service breakfasts and National Prayer Day services.

The community names that led this series of public events were Pletcher, LeSaulnier, Roemer, McLaren, Smith, Bell, Calvin, Kiburtz, Walker and Zitzman.

In 1925 the stone Presbyterian Church saw its first expansion. The solid oak floor was raised two feet and a basement built under the entire church. A coal burning furnace was added. The row of basement windows can be seen in both The historic Stone Church and the modern  yellow brick sanctuary.

At that time, the Sunday School, organized in 1880, had 100 students and nine teachers.

“We are certain that this is the oldest public building in the city that is still serving and practically intact as it was originally put up,” the Pacific Transcript reported in 1950 as the congregation approached its greatest period of change. 

In 1946, a new Hammond Electric Organ was purchased, which paved the way for a series of public music recitals. When Oscar Jekel, a prominent organist who favored the Hammond Electric Organ moved to Pacific and Joined Pacific Presbyterian, the congregation organized a public Organ recital featuring Mr. Jekel’s playing that attracted patrons and organ aficionados from the surrounding area communities, which filled the sanctuary to standing room only.

In 1951, a service building that included a commercial style kitchen and large dining area was added, and then in 1955. This structure was opened to the community for Christmas celebrations, local elections, and several decades of free Thursday dinners.

The Stone Church exterior was covered with brick veneer that matched the service building in 1956. The large steeple of The Stone Church was removed and a narthex, or vestibule, was added to the front of the building which relocated the entrance to Fourth street and included a more modest steeple. The sanctuary was redecorated and stained-glass windows were installed, known among the congregation as Memorial Windows, were installed.

A new manse was erected in 1959 for the pastors and their families. And in 1962, the Garrett home next door to the church was purchased and became the Christian education building, pastor’s study and church office. 

The 1940s and 50s were a time of huge additions to the church. Church enrollment had reached 328.

The 1960s were also banner years. Pacific Presbyterian ordained the first women elders shortly after the United Presbyterian church approved the ordination of women. The congregation organized a kindergarten in the Minister’s Manse at a time when the public school had no kindergarten. 

After a disastrous flood in 1982, the church became the distribution center for emergency supplies, which led to the establishment of the Meramec Ministerial Alliance and the Pacific Food Pantry. The pantry operated in the church office building until it relocated as the Agape Help House. 

In recent decades, the church offered free dinners twice a month September through May and gave out about 300 meals each time.

At Christmas 2002 Pacific Presbyterian staged one of its more dramatic and popular pageants  – an outdoor Nativity Scene that included live animals was set up in the small park opposite the church. 

Some 26 adults and 26 children took turns dressing in simple robes and posing in a makeshift stable in the live Nativity scene. A glowing light emanating from the manger represented the Christ child. The congregation described the outdoor scene as its Christmas card to the community.

Pacific Presbyterian has served as the church home to a series of prominent families: six generations of the Close family, including Henry Close who built the church, hia son C.C. Close, his granddaughter Blanch Pletcher and her husband great-granddaughter Edna Close Myers and her family; the Remig and Mary Leber family;