The United Presbyterian Church was founded 29 April 1890 at the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Alexander with 12 charter members. Reverend J. H. Gibson was asked by the Beulah United Presbyterian Church to organize a congregation in Pittsburg where he became the first pastor of the church from 1891 till 1901 when his health forced him to retire. The first congregants met in various homes of members and on the second floor of a building on the northwest corner of Third and Broadway. They were meeting in the old Methodist Church at the corner of 5th and Pine where the Memorial Auditorium is when they built and dedicated a new much larger building on the southwest corner of 4th and Walnut on 21 May 1916. In 1918, Rev. H. Harper Hutchman became the pastor of the United Presbyterian Church and during his first year, the First Congregational Church located at 3rd and Walnut voted to unite with the UP church, starting on February 8, 1919. Rev. Hutchman served until 1940 when he retired at age 78. On January 1, 1986 the two Presbyterian churches in Pittsburg decided to merge and meet in the First Presbyterian Church building at 6th & Pine. The United Presbyterian church property was sold and the building was torn down a few years later with the Roman columns from the front of the church used on the front of the new Sigma Chi Epsilon fraternity house at 1714 S. Broadway across the street from PSU.
For a more complete history of both the United Presbyterian Church and the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburg, please visit the website of the
Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg and then clicking on the Heritage link on the site.
