Our History

HISTORY OF FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH WEBB CITY
1890-Present

Faith, prayer and hard work have gone into the very being of First Christian Church Webb City, from the first prayer meeting held in the home of Mrs. C.R. Chinn. This prayer meeting brought together seven faithful members who began to work toward the organization of a Christian church. It was reported in the early written records of the church that their prayer meetings were the pulse of the church.

The church was organized in 1890 in the AOUW Hall. The little group met for awhile in the Donoho Building and also a few months in the Gammons Grocery Store. In the early spring of 1892, a tent meeting was held with several people being baptized. The baptisms were in Center Creek near Oronogo. The church meetings were moved to Brenneman’s Store Building. The membership totaled around 35 at this time.

In 1894 two ladies, Miss Emma Beaver and Miss Ella Helm, called a meeting for the young people for the purpose of organizing a Christian Endeavor Society. No one showed up for the meeting except the two ladies. They sang and prayed and studied the Endeavor topic; afterward they proceeded to elect officers. The next Sunday the minister announced the success of the meeting and urged a large attendance for that night. He purposely withheld a report of the attendance. There were fifteen who came that night and from that time on the membership grew.

In 1894 the church moved to a small frame building that had been started the year before on the corner of Broadway and Oronogo. Mr. Conklin approached the subject one Sunday of building a church home. His faith was that it could be done. He asked that everyone give whatever they could each Sunday toward a building fund. The building was dedicated free of debt and later enlarged in 1900. There were 40 who united with the church on the day of dedication.

Records are not complete, but it is to be assumed that this is the building that burned in 1916 with all records being lost. The congregation then continued to worship in the basement.

The church prospered during those early years. There would be overflow crowds for revivals and the young people would sit in the windows during services.

Because of poor drainage in the basement, the congregation in 1940 moved to the Odd Fellows Hall on north Main Street. There was an opportunity the following year to purchase the Catholic Church building at 219 South Webb Street. And in the 1950’s an addition was built onto the south of the building, providing more classroom space. During this time the church continually grew into the hundreds.

In 1967 a new sanctuary was completed, and which completes our current church home. In 1990 there was a major renovation that took place in preparation for the church’s 100th birthday. And the church has undergone some small face lifts in the past several years, and is as beautiful as it has ever been.