First Presbyterian Church of Niagara Falls will be celebrating its 200th anniversary today, recognizing its status as one of the Cataract City’s oldest religious institutions.
“This bicentennial is not simply a celebration of longevity,” wrote Pastor Justin L. Marple. “It is a moment to receive the past with gratitude and to ask what faithfulness requires next. The church that reaches its third century does so because generation after generation chose not only to remember, but to continue.”
While the church’s congregation officially started worshipping together in April, 1824 in a log schoolhouse on current-day Prospect Street, Nov. 28, 1826, marks the formal formation of the First Presbyterian Society of Niagara, which would become the current First Presbyterian Church. Many of the early notable names in Niagara Falls history were members, including Augustus Porter, Samuel DeVeaux, Ziba Gay, and Ira Cook.
Its first proper church was a wooden building at First and Falls Streets completed in 1831. Starting in 1849, construction began on the church’s present site at 311 1st St., though surviving records describe the major building phase lasting from 1849 to 1852. Subsequent changes and expansions happened in 1879, 1903, 1921, and 1957.
The church has used the Lavinia E. Porter House on Buffalo Avenue as its manse for over a century. Starting in 1958, it also used a former YMCA building for Sunday School and youth work before it was demolished and turned into Fleming Park.
During the Niagara Falls Urban Renewal period in 1963, the church congregation voted to remain downtown despite ongoing redevelopment and suburban growth. In 1965, the historic building was threatened to be demolished as part of Urban Renewal efforts, with the congregation resisting until the building committee persuaded the Urban Renewal Agency that the church could remain in 1970. A formal agreement was approved on May 22, 1973.
The church building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2014, with the Lavinia E. Porter House on that register since 2012.
Today’s ceremonies start at 5 p.m., with a worship service and historical remembrance. After a city proclamation, First Street will receive an honorary designation of First Presbyterian Boulevard and Mayor Robert Restaino will toll the bell in the restored bell tower. Dinner and a reception will follow at 6 p.m.