LOGAN – The First Presbyterian Church located at 178 West Center in Logan will be celebrating their sanctuary being 100 years old on Dec. 15, 2024.
The people of the First Presbyterian Church are planning a centennial celebration for their chapel on Sunday Feb. 15, 2024.
Derek Forbes has been the pastor of the Logan church for 12 years. He said they have a cornerstone on their building with 1924 engraved on it.
“What a great time to have a celebration,” Forbes said. “We plan to have music from across the century. This is a community wide event, everyone is invited.”
Brandon Clayton, the church organist, and the Westminster Bell Choir will be part of the celebration.
“We hope to keep the program to an hour,” he said. “Sometimes these kinds of programs can go on and on.”
The pipe organ was refurbished in 2016 after 50 years of use and the organ pipes are front and center in the sanctuary.
“The stained-glass windows are original,” Forbes said. “They aren’t the most energy efficient, they have little pinholes in them. Some day we hope to have them double paned.”
The original part of the building has a basement, Westminster Hall, where there is a room with a stage. It has been used for community plays and concerts over the years. Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are held there several times a week now. The church also hosts Loaves and Fishes, a twice-monthly community meal. Forbes is also an active member of Cache Community Connections.
Since the first Presbyterian Church first came to Logan, they have made their mark on Cache Valley history and have a lot to celebrate.
The First Presbyterian Church was remodeled in 1924 and has a strong presence in downtown Logan.
Utah State University’s Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives Division has a collection of historic papers for the church dating from 1878 to 1993.
The papers show that in 1873, over sixty-five Presbyterian missionaries had been sent to Corrine; a year later they officially organized the Presbytery of Utah.
They wanted to establish a Presbyterian presence in the Utah Territory because of its large population of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In 1878 they officially chartered the first Cache Valley congregation, and they met in the upper floor of a furniture factory adjacent to the Logan Tabernacle. They started with 11 members. Two years later the members of the faith acquired property on Center Street and Second West in Logan. They built themselves a meetinghouse of wood, then later in 1924 the church underwent a renovation and built the current brick structure. In 1956 the church was remodeled and expanded again.
Also in 1878, Presbyterian leaders established the Logan Academy, first known as the Cache Valley Seminary, the New Jersey Academy after 1890, and finally the Logan Academy after 1925.
The Logan Academy was organized to give boys and girls a “liberal Christian education.”
Smaller subsidiary schools later opened in other Cache Valley towns including Franklin (1881), Mendon (1881), Millville (1881), Smithfield (1881), Wellsville (1881), Richmond (1883), Hyrum, and Preston (1900). A lot of the smaller schools closed between 1905 and 1915.
The pipe organ in the First Presbyterian was remodeled in 2016.
In 1910 the Logan Academy was touted as a school for high-school aged girls, aiming “to fit them [the girls] for the highest possible usefulness and consequent happiness in life.” It closed in 1934.
The church also participated in and organized various societies including the Association of Church Women (ACW), the United Church Women (UCW), the Ladies Missionary Society, and the Harbor Lights Mariners Club (HLMC).
The First United Presbyterian Church continues to hold regular meetings in their building. Currently, the congregation has about 175 members but over the years they have had as many as 200 members, Forbes said.