FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Shawnee, Oklahoma

According to the church's history,  in the fall of 1891, before Shawnee was named,
a small group of Christians began meeting in the home of J.P. Miller, who later became
the town's first justice of the peace.  This group gathered with other Christians and
built the town's first 'interdenominational" church building.

The first building was reported to be a "rough oak and cottonwood structure
on the corner of Bell and Farrell streets...a thrown up affair, poorly constructed and not entirely
closed in, with a dirt floor.  The seats were made of sawed logs with planks across them.
The pulpit was a box from a saloon."

"By 1895, a number of denominational groups chose to pull out from the
interdenominational fellowship on Ferrall Street, and built their own churches.
First Christian traces its history back to the group who remained a part of the
original congregation."

"The church then constructed it's "real" building at Philadelphia and Seventh Street in August 1895.  The location
is just south of the current Celebration of Life Park in Downtown Shawnee."

Click on Photo to enlarge
Photo from postcard/A McD

Click on Photo to enlarge
Photo from "Pottawatomie County History" by the Historical Society/1987

The next building (pictured above)  was constructed at Broadway and Eleventh street and was dedicated on January 18, 1908.
The building had been constructed at a cost of $25,000.  The building had a heavy slate roof, however, and by the 1940's
the trusses had begun to sag; water rotted the wall plates; and nothing could be done to save the old building
and in June of 1948 the building was declared unsafe.  Services were held temporarily in the municiapl
auditorium and Irving School before the membership made the decision to build at it's present location.
(This building which was erected in 1908, was located across the street from the Carnegie Library on the site now
occupied by MidFirst Bank on Broadway.

Click on photo for additional image

The last move was on October 1, 1950 when the church moved to a the new $175,000 sanctuary at Broadway and
Elizabeth street.  On October 2, 1960 a $125,000 educational building was dedicated.

Church records show the following pastors have served this congregation in Shawnee:
Frank VanVorhees, 1906-1910
Owen Reece, 1921-1923
W.A. Merrill, 1924-1934
G. Frank Sanders, 1934-1938
Carl Covey, 1938-1943
Glenn Crosby, 1943-1947
R. Scott Baird, 1948-1955
J.R. Johnson, 1955-1958
Phil Dubbs, 1958-1960
Willard T. Reece, 1960-1966
R. Scott Baird, 1967-1978
David N. Fischer, 1978-1987
Steven G. Williams, 1988-1989
Don E. Richardson, 1991-1996
Dan F. Reihing, 1997-2000
Milo Steffen, 2002-present

You can visit the First Christian Church website at this link: http://www.shawneedisciples.org/