First Congregational Church of St. Anthony

The frontier town of St. Anthony was established on the basis of lumbering, which attracted many migrants from eastern states to settle there. Along with the influx of laborers came missionaries who were mostly Congregationalist or Presbyterian. One of the first congregations organized in the area was in 1851 in St Anthony under the name First Congregational Church of St. Anthony. Upon establishment, the congregation immediately started building a house of worship. In 1852 First Congregational combined with First Presbyterian into one and they changed the name to Plan of Union church, signaling the national partnership between the two denominations. Soon, however, they decided to become a Congregational church and take the name “Our Neighbor, the First Congregational Church of Minneapolis.” The first church building was finished and dedicated in 1854 on 4th Street Northeast, an area that is now East Hennepin. As membership increased the congregation decided to sell their church building to Lutheran Evangelical Church in 1873 and build a new one. Just one year before this, the town of St. Anthony became a part of the city of Minneapolis. In 1874 the new house of worship on 5th Street and 3rd Avenue Southeast was dedicated and the congregation remained there until the building was destroyed in a fire in 1886. After the fire, the congregation took up temporary quarters in a repurposed ice rink on the corner of 5th Street and 12th Avenue, SE, and set about building a new church.  In 1888 the congregation officially moved into the new building at 500 8th Avenue Southeast, designed by architect Warren H. Hayes. This building was later added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. 

The First Congregational Church had originally started as an exclusive New England church with restricted membership. This meant an emphasis on religious revivals led by the first pastor, Charles Seccombe. Known as the father of the church, Rev. Seccombe was a Calvinist, frontier missionary sent by the American Home Missionary Society. He also was a staunch abolitionist and preached his support for the Union during the Civil War. Rev. Seccombe remained with the church from 1854-1866 and within this time the membership increased from 12 to 172 members.  According to Paul Lucas in “Church and the City”, during the 1870s First Church switched to a more open and welcoming approach (Lucas, 58). This switch was due to the congregation prioritizing the addition of members which Lucas defined as “Home Evangelism” (Lucas, 57). First Church also proceeded to engage in prayer meetings and Sunday schools which they had not previously done. During this time the church also created the Emmanuel Mission and another mission in East Side Flats in an attempt to engage with the community. However, after 1890 First Church discontinued its support for these organizations and social service missions and took up a new identity as a “university” church (Lucas, 59). According to Lucas, this meant that by the 1920s the congregation had many members that were students at the University of Minnesota (Lucas, 61). First Congregational Church gained many members during this time that were students at the university.