Our Beginnings

The history of the First Presbyterian Church of Hanford dates to the 1870s when Cumberland Presbyterian ministers traveled through the area conducting camp meetings at what is now the site of the Kings Building (formerly Kings General Hospital), at a place known as Willow Grove.

As the outcome of a camp meeting held in 1876 by Reverend Warren Compton, eight members banded together to form a "mission." The mission continued until the first church was organized on November 18, 1878 with Rev. William Smith and seventeen members. This group met in the Exchange Saloon, where they read and sang.

 

In 1880, Rev. N. W. Motherall expanded the congregation and the first church was erected at Eighth and Douty streets (pictured to the left) on property donated by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, with the largest single donation coming from the saloon owners!

 

 

 

 

A wagon train of five large teams hauled lumber from the Tollhouse lumber mills to build the frame church. The first service was the funeral of Rev. Motherall's son. Services were conducted at that site until 1912, when the land was sold to the county for courthouse expansion and the Presbyterians moved to the present location.

 

 

 

 

 

The 1912 church was razed for construction of the present facility, which was dedicated on February 22, 1981.