First Presbyterian Church

The origins of Covenant Church go back to the early 1800s, shortly after Simon Kenton, accompanied by a band of sturdy Presbyterians, arrived in what is now Clark County. An early history records that Springfield, in the first decade of the 19th century, was in danger of becoming a center of vice wickedness for much of the surrounding country. Rough, lawless men and desperadoes loitered around the public houses, drinking, swearing, quarrellingA pitcher of whiskey was a necessary adjunct to the water pitcher on the counters of stores, for the free use of all customers. The professors of religion, as well as men of the country, indulged in whiskey with the same freedom. But the professors of religion soon felt the need for greater sustenance for their souls. In 1811 a popular subscription in money, goods, livestock, and labor made possible the hamlet's first house of worship, a 20x30-foot long structure erected west of Mill Run and south of Main Street. The first church was free for use by all denominations. Presbyterian sentiment had grown strong by 1815, and on June 25, by authority of the Miami Presbytery, Andrew Steele was ordained to serve Springfield Presbyterians one Sunday every four weeks. Two years later the tiny congregation made verbal application, accompanied by a subscription of $110.50, for half of Steele's time. By 1819 twenty-seven persons who had been attending services regularly felt the need for an organized church, and on July 19 of that year, First Presbyterian Church was constituted, with Steele and stated supply and John Humphreys and Melvyn Baker ruling elders. Springfield was now a village of 510 souls 285 men and 225 women. For eleven years the congregation boarded about town, using a schoolhouse, the courtroom, and other churches for services. Meanwhile, the congregation had gotten its first full-time pastor in the Reverend Franklin Putnam in 1827, and in that same year organized a Sunday School. The church now had twenty-nine members. Springfield's population was 935. After the church was incorporated by the legislature as the First Presbyterian Church on February 11, 1829, the need was felt for a building all its own. But more than a year passed before the society purchased, for $700, a lot six poles (rods ) square, sold as part of the estate of a deceased citizen to pay his just debts. The lot, on the outskirts of the old town of Springfield, ' was located at South Street and Hoop-pole Alley (now Main and Fisher Streets, respectively ) where a large parking lot is found today. Soon construction began. Because the church was built only as its members acquired the means to continue, two years passed before the severely plain one-story brick structure was completed. Two wood-burning stoves provided warmth. With the beginning of life in its new building, First Church called the Reverend John S. Galloway as its second full-time pastor. He served eighteen years, the longest tenure among twenty-eight pastors who have served our church full-time. The period was one of great growth in religiosity, both in the church and in the village. The Sunday School became an important part of the church's program.