The First Presbyterian Church

A HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF CASA GRANDE

In recounting the history of the Presbyterian Church of Casa Grande, one is almost forced to paraphrase Longfellow's "Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." Indeed, "hardly a man is now alive who remembers that famous day and year." At least there is no man now living in Casa Grande who took part in the organization of the church in October of 1896. Even documentary evidence concerning the origins of the congregation is scant.

Some facts are known. The Casa Grande congregation was only the eleventh Presbyterian congregation organized in Arizona Territory.

Although the United States annexed that portion of present Arizona north of the Gila River by terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and purchased the zone south of the Gila River in 1853, religious organizations did not rush into the region. At least one Presbyterian minister, the Rev. William H. Bacon, spent half a year in Tucson in 1859-1860. He was probably the first Protestant minister who conducted church services in what would later become Arizona Territory. He operated a restaurant with his family, however, and moved on to California after his daughter-waitress married.

A military chaplain, the Rev. Charles M. Blake, as early as December 28, 1866, conducted a Presbyterian church service at Prescott, then a mine camp founded three years earlier. Blake also acted as chaplain to both houses of the Territorial Legislature.

There were other pioneer Presbyterian clergymen who conducted missions to Indians, or served briefly in the territory. Congregations were not organized in Arizona Territory, however, for another decade. In 1875, the General Assembly added the territory to the jurisdiction of the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, who headed the Synod of Colorado. The title was misleading: the Synod included New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. In 1876, Rev. Jackson traveled by stage via Santa Fe and Silver City to Tucson, where he managed to find half a dozen Presbyterians. He appointed J. B. Clum ruling elder of the First Presbyterian Church there. Jackson continued on to Prescott that spring, but not until that fall did the Rev. John A. Merrill organize a church in the mountain city.

Meanwhile, irrigation agriculture in the Salt River Valley generated rapid urbanization at Phoenix. There Presbyterians formed a congregation in 1879. Two years later, a German immigrant who took the English name Charles H. Cook launched a Presbyterian mission to the Gila River Pima and Maricopa Indians. By that time, Anglo-Americans had settled on the Gila River upstream from these industrious farming Indians. Some of these colonists at Florence formed a Presbyterian congregation there in 1888. The following year, missionary Cook was able to organize a congregation of his Pima Indian converts at Sacaton, the headquarters of the United States government's agency for the Pima and Maricopa Indians.

Two years later, in 1891, residents of Flagstaff founded the sixth Presbyterian congregation in the territory in that lumber milling town on the Santa Fe Railroad at the foot of San Francisco Peaks. That same year, people in the mining camp of Clifton in eastern Arizona banded together in the seventh Presbyterian congregation in the territory. The next year, farmers and trades people living in the Salt River Valley town of Peoria northwest of Phoenix constituted the eighth congregation.

In 1894, Rev. Charles H. Cook had the satisfaction of helping additional Indian converts organize the second Presbyterian congregation on the Gila River Indian Reservation at Blackwater. That same year, Presbyterians living in Springerville north of the White Mountains on Arizona's border with New Mexico formed the tenth congregation in the Territory.

That year Henry A. Thompson began to preach to the Protestants living in the small village of Cas a Grande, which the 1890 census had reported had 328 residents. Mr. Thompson was not an ordained minister, but was a licentiate with church license to practice.

Mr. Thompson served the Protestants of Casa Grande for three years, until sometime in 1897. Thus, he was at the forefront of the movement leading to the organization of the Endeavor Church, as it was originally called, which became Casa Grande's First Presbyterian Church. One thing is clear about the origins of this congregation: it was the first Protestant church in the small desert community. Thompson almost certainly served a congregation composed of individuals who had belonged to a variety of Protestant denominations before they migrated to Casa Grande. Consequently, that congregation behaved in a distinctly ecumenical manner that was for many decades to permeate First Presbyterian Church affairs in this community.

As a matter of fact, one may easily speculate that the first Protestant church in Casa Grande might not have become a Presbyterian congregation at all had it not been for the existing ministerial resources the Presbyterians mustered nearby. There was the Rev. Charles H. Cook on the Gila River Indian Reservation with his two congregations at Sacaton and Blackwater. Stage coaches connected Sacaton with the railroad depot at Casa Grande thirteen miles distant, so Cook and other Presbyterians active in the Pima and Maricopa Indian mission traveled via Casa Grande. Inevitably they must have stopped overnight if not longer and taken some interest in stimulating Presbyterian congregationalism in the railroad-mine-freighting-irrigation agriculture trading center.

There was, moreover, the Rev. Isaac T. Whittemore at Florence, as minister of the congregation formed back in 1888. On occasion, Whittemore cancelled services in the Florence church and spent Sunday in Casa Grande to preach there, and to aid in the organization of the new Presbyterian-to-be congregation. Like Sacaton, Florence depended in the 1890's upon the Casa Grande depot for access to the Southern Pacific Railroad and the rest of the United States. Thus, Presbyterians traveling to and from Florence via the railroad passed through Casa Grande. Ministers, at least, clearly undertook to aid in establishing the denomination in what had been a wide-open village of saloons, boarding houses, and freight and stage-line stations during the previous decade.

Henry A. Thompson led the people of Casa Grande who raised funds to erect the first Protestant church in the village. This was known as the "Little White Church." It stood at First Avenue and Florence Street, where the Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Company was built after the structure was abandoned. The building consisted of one good-sized room where services were held, and a small back room used for supplies. At the time the congregation organized, Augustus Marden and C. G. Butler served as its Elders. The congregation originally called itself the "Endeavor Church," and it is remembered by some members as the "Union Church" with ministers of different denominations filling the pulpit from time to time.

Apparently it became overtly Presbyterian by the time the Rev. Isaac T. Whittemore served as pastor in 1898-1899.

A church really is people, and it is through people that one traces the development of this congregation. The Rev. Herman B. Mayo followed Whittemore as pastor in 1899¬1901. Presbyterian congregations formed in 1900 at the Mexican border mine camp of Bisbee, at Gila Crossing on the Gila River Indian Reservation, and on the Salt River Indian Reservation. Thus, missionary Cook enjoyed seeing no less than four of the dozen active Presbyterian churches in Arizona Territory composed of Pima and Maricopa Indians whom he and his occasional associates had converted.

The Little White Church & Rev. Curtis

Rev. Isaac Whittemore 1898 -1899

1Iarie & A.F. "Pete" Peters en route to Sunday School

Primary department in front of tent Sunday School hui ldi nz. Mr«, L. P. Matthews, far left; }Irs. Roy Ward & lIr,. Ben "ilson, far rip:ht.

Rev. Norman R. Curtis 1919-1922

Rev. Benjamin C. Meeker then served as pastor of the Casa Grande congregation in 1902-1904. During that period, Tucson Presbyterians in 1902 established Trinity Church as successor to the impermanent 1876 First Church. That same year, Cook saw another Indian congregation organized as Yah Ki of Bapchule, and another congregation formed at Maricopa. Bisbee's twin smelter city of Douglas acquired a Presbyterian church congregation in 1903, when the Maricopa Indians at Lehi also formed their congregation. Presbyterians began to compete with the Church of Latter Day Saints at Benson in 1904. The Casa Grande Presbyterian congregation retained, on the other hand, its "union" character, avoiding the dispersion of time, funds and effort into multiple denominations that plagued many small towns in the United States at that time.

The Rev. James L. Barnes served this distinctive Casa Grande congregation during 1904-1905. In that year, the Presbyterians added a congregation at Wickenburg, a formerly boisterous mine camp west of Phoenix. The Casa Grande congregation evidently had to fend for itself, and seek temporary ministers to preach during 1906. The Rev. J osias Friedli did not arrive until 1907, staying into the next year. A family by the name of Wilson also arrived at the Casa Grande passenger depot in 1907, and became a part of the First Presbyterian Church congregation. This is a role that members of the family are still playing.

At that time, Casa Grande had only a few hundred inhabitants. It was a raw, hot, dusty village of scattered adobe and frame houses, with a nondescript business section lying on both sides of the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. Thus, the tracks "ran through the middle of town."

After a short stay on the Trekell ranch near town, the Wilson family took up its abode some twenty miles south of the railroad depot, near the Orizaba Mine, and lived there for a few years.

The Rev. 'Allen Kennedy followed Friedli as pastor of the Casa Grande Presbyterians in 1908, serving into the following year. Then the congregation evidently encountered difficulty obtaining an ordained minister, for once again a licentiate served it. He was J. R. Waits, who worked at Casa Grande into 1910.

When Waits left, the Casa Grande church suffered another interregnum until the Rev. Giles A. Henderson arrived in 1911. He served into the next year when Arizona became the forty-eighth state admitted to the Union. By that time, a Papago Indian Presbyterian congregation had been founded on Tucson's south side in 1906. The Globe First Presbyterian Church appeared in 1908, and a Globe Mexican Presbyterian congregation the following year. Globe's smelter twin-city of Miami could not lag behind, so its Presbyterians set up their church in 1910. Finally, a Presbyterian congregation was formed in Fort Defiance in 1912. Thus, Arizona boasted a total of twenty five Presbyterian congregations at statehood. Five were Pima or Maricopa Indian churches on Salt River Valley or Gila River Valley reservations. One was a Papago Indian congregation in Tucson. One was a segregated Mexican congregation in Globe.

In 1912, the Wilson family moved from the mines into Casa Grande. There Sarah Wilson became a moving spirit in the Little White Church. The Wilson children, whether voluntarily or moved by the force of her spirit, took an active part in the development - and the cleaning - of the church. That same year, a new pastor arrived in Casa Grande, the Rev. George Logie.

In 1913, the Homer Ward family came to the area and took up a homestead west of town. In addition to Homer, there were his wife Minnie and their three small children. By the time the congregation celebrated its 75th Anniversary, Minnie Ward could look back on well over a half-century as a member.

It was the Rev. J. W. Henderson, pastor from 1913 to 1916, who persuaded Minnie, then a dyed-in-the-wool Methodist, that she would not be relinquishing her chances of immortality if she joined the Presbyterian Church. Thus, the pastors carried on the policy of recruiting immigrant members of other denominations into the Casa Grande Presbyterian Church. This policy mustered a larger congregation than could otherwise have existed, and for many years made the church the most prestigious Protestant body in Casa Grande. In the absence of an Episcopal church in the desert town, the pioneer Presbyterian Church assumed the social role typically played by the Episcopal congregation in other settlements. In Arizona, priority of arrival of immigrants and priority of organization of institutions has from the beginning of Anglo-American colonization bestowed prestige upon the earliest arrivals and the first organized groups.

The Henderson home, or Presbyterian church manse, was for some time a tent set up next door to the church. Later, as the congregation grew, one tent and then a second tent housed the Sunday School.

C. J. "Blinkey" Wilson, Sr., general chairman for the 75th Anniversary observance of the congregation, said:

"There must surely be a place in this church history for Mrs. McMurray."

She stood out in his memory, even to the violets on her bonnet-like hat, as a symbol of what more recent terminology would call "total involvement." Minnie Ward has this to say of her:

"Then there was our dear 'Grandma' Sarah MeMurray. She was one of-the staunch pillars of the church. She would preach funeral sermons, do anything that a man or woman could do. She was a small person, with a cute, quaint little hat. She was in all church activities, was a Sunday School superintendent for many years, and a most wonderful Sunday School teacher."

It was Sarah McMurray who, with Mrs. Edna Forbach, started the Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Society, forerunner of the later United Presbyterian Women's Association.

Minnie Ward had equal praise for Sarah Wilson,

"She was always doing things for people, helping where there was need. She never told what she did, and never mentioned what or for whom."

This church is indeed people, bound together with unity of purpose to be about the concerns of God's Kingdom. The W. J. Hamilton family came to Casa Grande in the fall of 1915, living at first in a house-tent, like the Rev. Henderson and his family. The only other house for rent in the small town was built of sun-dried bricks, but lacked a roof. Hamilton could purchase no bedsteads, so bought lumber and carpentered a cot for his sick wife. He purchased a stove from a friendly Spanish-speaking merchant family, but in general found all household necessities in short supply in Casa Grande. He correctly assessed these shortages as a business opportunity, and opened a store, in association with Homer Ward. Hamilton's wife died not long after the family reached Casa Grande, and his teen aged daughter Gladys began cooking and washing (by hand on a scrub-board) the family clothing. W. J. Hamilton served the Presbyterian Church congregation for many years as Sunday School superintendent. When a new Sanctuary was built by the congregation fifty-nine years after her arrival at Casa Grande Railroad depot, Gladys Hamilton Albrecht's name appeared in alphabetical order at the head of the list of donors.

William and Ida Sell also came to the Casa Grande area in 1915. They homesteaded south of Toltec. For a time, they attended Sunday afternoon services conducted by the Casa Grande minister at the Toltec school. Later, they came to Casa Grande to church, attending regularly. On at least one occasion, they served the congregation's members a quail dinner at their ranch home.

Tessie Elliott at one time walked to church from her home in Arizola, two and a half miles southeast of the Casa Grande railroad depot along the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks.

The Rev. Charles H. Churchill followed Mr. Henderson in 1916, serving into the following year. Then the United States' entry into the World War interrupted the continuity of ministerial service at the Presbyterian church. Members of the congregation carried on.

Mrs. Amandus Peters, member of another pioneer farm family, became a mainstay of the congregation. Mrs. Frank Gilbert, mother of Guy and Parke and Frances, did, too.

"Her house was always open for anything for the church."

Mr. and Mrs. Roy Ward, who came to Casa Grande as bride and groom, contributed immeasurably to the life of the church. Their daughter Dorothy with her husband Jim McKaughan served many years as missionaries in Mexico.

Minnie Ward, whose reminiscences have been quoted, was Sunday School teacher and superintendent, Christian Endeavour sponsor, and a good friend to all.

Because it was a growing institution, the congregation inevitably outgrew the "Little White Church" south of the railroad tracks, with its tent annexes. By the time the Rev. N. R. Curtis arrived in 1919, it was time for the congregation to find more adequate quarters. Curtis helped in 1920 when plans were made to build a new manse and sanctuary at a location on Florence Boulevard at the end of Sacaton Street north of the railroad tracks, and at the then edge of settlement in the small town.

The estimated cost of the building project was $25,000. The local congregation asked the Presbyterian Home Mission Board to help with financing that comparatively huge sum. W. J. Hamilton, J. B. Steere, a hardware store operator, and L. P. Matthews served as a building committee.

By that time, the Presbyterian Church was no longer the only Protestant denomination organized in Casa Grande, in spite of its open admission policy. A dynamic woman born in Nebraska moved with her husband from Tempe to Casa Grande in 1920. N. Bess Prather promptly stimulated the organization of a Christian Church. This congregation held its services in a frame building located just to the east of the site of the projected new Presbyterian Church. Methodists also had organized their own congregation. These small groups later dissolved, however, and a goodly number of those who had been active in them became faithful workers in the still open-armed Presbyterian church. Re-organized in still later years, these denominations form a vital part of the ecumenical family of Casa Grande.

The Rev. J. W. Purcell replaced Curtis as pastor of the Casa Grande Presbyterian church in 1922. The Rev. Benjamin H. Freye followed him in 1924.He led an expanded building committee composed of Hamilton, Steere, Henry Bamburger, Mrs. A. M. Peck and Mrs. Frank Gilbert. The congregation built a manse first, after all its years of neglecting ministerial housing. The new manse was a little frame house facing Park Avenue. Many members of the 1970s' congregation remember it as a Sunday School and Nursery building. By the time it was completed in 1925, the Rev. Curry H. Love had become pastor of the congregation. Mrs. Mary Love, coming to Casa Grande as a bride, remembered it as her home throughout the period of her husband's pastorate. That era from 1925 to 1939 was the longest period of service by any minister in the church's history. Mr. Love came to Casa Grande from a pastorate at Morenci, a mining community in eastern Arizona. No stranger to the area, he had been appointed Stated Clerk when the Synod of Arizona was formed in 1912.

The manse became the scene of many weddings. It was not unusual for complete strangers - to the minister if not to each other - to come to the door with the request that Mr. Love marry them. No doubt Mary Love's name stands on a good many marriage certificates as witness.

Rev. Curry Love 1925-1939

The church counted only 82 communicants, and a Sunday School enrollment of 97 when $6,707 was pledged toward a new church building. The Home Mission Board made a loan. In March of 1926, a contract was let for erecting the walls. These were unique in church architecture in Casa Grande, being made of field stone' gathered from the desert. The contractor was Michael Sullivan, a stone mason and member of the Roman Catholic Church. Having erected the Casa Grande Woman's Clubhouse of stone across the street from the new church in 1924, Sullivan had demonstrated his capacity with stone and mortar. W. J. Hamilton installed most of the electrical equipment.

Mr. Love held the first service in the new church, with its glittering copper-plated dome, in January of 1928. After a frantic cleaning session that lasted late Saturday night, an exhausted minister exclaimed,

"N ow we can have services here tomorrow!"

The first big social event held at the new church was a surprise party for Mary and Curry Love on the occasion of their second wedding anniversary, February 2, 1928. A measure of the determination of the small congregation of the middle 1920's and the quality of its sanctuary lies in the size of the mortgage. It was not until 1946 that the total building debt could be discharged. Then the mortgages for both manse and sanctuary were burned with impressive ceremony. The old church property had been sold for $1,500. A succession of pastors had followed Mr. Love: H. W. Rotz in 1939-1941, followed by Alexander Muirden in 1942-1943, and R. C. Palmer in 1944-1945. The mortgage was burned at the beginning of the pastorate of the Rev. Elias Jones. This dedicated Welshman served the church from 1946 until his retirement in 1956.

The church bulletin for April 28, 1946, carried the program for the ceremony. To burn the cancelled mortgage on the church, Mrs. H. J. Moran and Mrs. W. H. Godbold held the document, E. P. Shelley provided a match P. H. Collier used to ignite the paper.

To burn the cancelled mortgage on the manse, Mrs. Mary R. Love and Mrs. M. A. Anderson held it; Shelley provided a match for S. J. Norman to strike and ignite the document.

Mrs. Homer (Minnie) Ward was the first woman elected to serve as Elder in the church. She could not be ordained at the time due to illness. Thus, Mrs. A. J. (Flossie) Barmes was the first woman Elder ordained, and Minnie Ward became the second. To Flossie Barmes also goes the distinction of being the only woman ever to represent the Casa Grande church at Presbyterian General Assembly, at Atlantic City in 1946.

The first Board of Deacons was elected in 1948, and consisted of Mrs. H. O. Pace, Mrs. Walter Davis, and Mr. C. J. (Jay) Wilson, Jr. The three-member board was later increased to a membership of five, and more recently to nine. The Session grew from two members in 1896 to twelve in the early 1970's.

Mr. E. P. Shelley, long a familiar figure in the church, was in 1949 elected a Life Member as Elder, to serve as Clerk of the Session "as long as he lives."

There were changes in the church's physical plant during the Jones pastorate. The sanctuary was modified to supply more seating. The basement was remodeled to provide more class rooms. A new manse was built on East 8th Street on property donated by Guy and Parke Gilbert. Then the old manse built in the 1920's was converted to nursery and class room use. A Fellowship Hall was built in 1952 and dedicated on July 12, 1953, debt-free!

Gifts and memorials had been added: an electric organ, a set of chimes, a Communion table, altar vases, a new pulpit, a set of pulpit chairs and a pulpit Bible. The Philathea Guild, a young women's organization, provided stained glass windows at the rear of the sanctuary seen from the street.

For many years, Sunday evening became a time for young people's meetings. The Christian Endeavor organization became the Westminister Fellowship. The women's organization was no longer the Missionary Society, but the Presbyterian Women's Association. Later, when the Presbyterian and United Presbyterian denominations joined forces in 1958 to become the United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., the women belonged to the United Presbyterian Women.

With the growth of Casa Grande to over 4,000 residents in 1940, other denominations grew in number and in numbers of members. Most Casa Grande Presbyterian Church members welcomed earlier from immigrants once affiliated with other groups remained members of its congregation. Now, on the other hand, newcomers found local congregations of their own denominations to join. This resulted in the pioneering open¬armed attitude of the Presbyterian congregation shifting into denominationalism more like that of other congregations than its own earlier all-inclusiveness.

The "immediate past" minister of the Presbyterian Church of Casa Grande is the Rev. Richard Archibald, who was installed on Sunday, February 10, 1957, in an evening service. He had preached his first sermon here the preceding Sunday.

It was during his pastorate that plans took shape for the building program that saw partial realization in the quarters that by 1971 were being used for all services. Additional Sunday School space was the most urgent need. Property prices for expansion adjacent to the church corner were judged to be out of reach, and a new element in church construction requirements had loomed. Parking space! A hitch rack had not been standard equipment since the move to Florence Boulevard, but parking space for cars was now at a premium.

Sometime in 1962, after heated discussion and by no means by unanimous vote, it was decided to accept the offer of the Gilbert family of a gift of five acres of land on Cottonwood Lane for the stipulated purpose of erecting a church, and to proceed with building plans. The Building Planning Committee consisted of Wilbur Wuertz, chairman; Rev. Archibald, Dick Johnson, Barbara Schoen, Rex Gladden, Keith Carlton, Grady Thurman, Harlan Russell, Bob Armstrong, Dorothy Powell, Lois Benedict, Charlotte Johnson, and Sam McKay.

Looking forward to their future church home, the Westminster Fellowship, composed of junior and senior high school youths, prepared at the suggestion of Mr. Archibald and with the guidance of its sponsors Keith and Mickey Carlton, a cornerstone type box. Members placed therein a number of objects considered typical of the times. This sturdy box, waterproofed, was buried some six feet deep near the southwest corner of the new church property. It is to be disinterred twenty-five years from the date of burial.

An architectural firm was hired, plot utilization laid out, Spanish style architecture agreed upon, and a financial drive was mounted, pledges to be paid within three years. On Sunday, July 25, 1965, a hot windy day, the congregation journeyed from the down-town church to the new site where Mary Love, widow of Curry Love, who had been the first pastor of the church on Florence Boulevard, turned the first shovel of dirt for the Education Buildings.

The first two units of the proposed complex were finished and occupied March 20, 1966, by the Christian Education Department. Church offices and worship services continued to be held at the down-town location, a rather awkward arrangement at best. Tables and chairs were ferried back and forth as occasion demanded. Church dinners and receptions were still held at the Fellowship Hall. Because congregations were smaller at that time of year, and the air conditioning at the new building was more effective, summer worship services were moved to the new location. Eventually, as equipment in the old church succumbed to the ravages of time and the difficulties of maintaining two locations mounted, it was decided to move all operations to the Cottonwood Lane site, where the largest of the classroom areas was used as the Sanctuary.

In the spring of 1969, Rev. Archibald accepted a call to the pastorate of Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, and the Casa Grande church embarked on a search for a new minister.

It was the decision of the Session not to hire an interim pastor while this search was going on. Instead, the congregation relied upon its own members to conduct the business of the church, and on visiting ministers from the surrounding area for pastoral guidance. The Rev. Robert Dulaney of the Coolidge Presbyterian Church was appointed Moderator. He earned much popularity among members of the Casa Grande congregation. For a brief period, that group reverted to something resembling the self-sufficient, pastorless state of the original small group that had organized the institution in the middle 1890's.

Then, a call was issued in October of 1969 to the Rev. Robert J. Stahmer of Tarkio, Missouri. He was installed in an evening service at the Florence Boulevard Sanctuary on January 11, 1970. Thus, Rev. Stahmer was the pastor when the church celebrated its 75th year of service under the general chairmanship of C. J. Wilson, Sr., who has had a longer association with the Presbyterian Church of Casa Grande than anyone in the area today.

It fell to Stahmer to take the lead in organizing another Building Committee for a sanctuary in January, 1972. This committee included Don Boyts, chairman, Carlotta Gilbert, Harlan Russell, Verna Cooper, Bob Wilson, Audrey Bingham, Keith Carlton, Wilbur Wuertz, .Carolyn Brackett, Riftin Curtis, Earl Wellborn, Richard O'Brien and Lois Benedict. It chose William A. Lockard of Phoenix as architect to design the new building. He evolved a structure with its focal point on the cross set in a faceted glass window.

'lr. & 'Ir". "•illiam Sell. "pUf\t'yor" of quail dinner","

Lockard planned a chapel at the front of the building to double as a room for meetings or small weddings. He put a parlor at the rear to be used for meetings or to accommodate overflow crowds from the sanctuary. It can be divided into smaller rooms with folding doors. In recent years, the church library has been installed on shelves on the south wall of this parlor. Two small rooms at the side of the pulpit provide space for pipe organ machinery and choir robes, and for families of the deceased during funerals. At the rear of the church a bride's room can also serve as a kitchenette for light refreshments.

Wilbur Wuertz also served as chairman of a campaign steering committee organized a year later in Janaury of 1973 to raise funds with which to build the new Sanctuary. Mel Binford brought his expertise as a professional fund raiser to his position as director, with Keith Carlton, Barbara Schoen, Carlotta Gilbert, Bill Isom, Joe O'Neil and Rev. Robert J. Stahmer aiding him as members. The building fund was over-subscribed by 335 donors, and about nine-tenths of the amount came in the form of voluntary contributions.

Harlyn Griffiths, president of Mi Casa Builders, Inc., of Casa Grande, acted as general contractor. His firm utilized the services of nineteen subcontractors and sup¬pliers in erecting the new Sanctuary. These ranged from local firms to specialists in Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Chandler and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. Antigua de Mexico produced there Spanish-style fixtures and executed wood carvings.

On June 9, 1974, the congregation dedicated its new Sanctuary. The Rev. Richard M. Archibald returned to deliver the invocation. Keith Carlton read an Old Testament lesson. The Rev. Richard K. Smith, Executive of the Presbyterian Synod of the Southwest, delivered the sermon. The pastor, Rev. Robert J. Stahmer, read the Act of Dedication. Casa Grande Mayor Jimmie B. Kerr delivered the greetings of the civil community, and the Rev. J. Reyndal Russell, president of the Casa Grande Ministerial Alliance and pastor of the Church of the Nazarene, delivered the greetings from the local Christian community.

Subsequent gifts provided the new house of worship with a pipe organ, a grand piano, and several pieces of mission furniture for the lounge. The organ was built and installed by David McDowell of Tucson, and was dedicated in a recital by Eric Houseknecht, senior organ major at the University of Arizona, and Sherwood Scribner, violinist with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. This musical treat was provided by the organ builder.

At the time the new Sanctuary was nearing completion, an active and dedicated Youth Group and its sponsors set forth the need for more adequate quarters for its activities. With the approval of the congregation and the assurance that there would be no financial drive that would compete with the Sanctuary building fund, a plan compatible with the rest of the buildings' architecture was drawn up. With voluntary contributions and much volunteer labor, the Youth Building took form. Just north of the Sanctuary and aligned with the other educational buildings, it now houses the offices of the pastor and the church secretary as well as a large activity room which the young people can claim as their own.

This brief history of the First Presbyterian Church of Casa Grande has dealt primarily with the outward physical evidence of the progress of this church, and its pastors and prominent committee members. This is, of course, only the easiest part of the story to tell. The real story lies in the people who constitute this church, and their inner feelings and state of grace stemming from their participation in this congregation of worshippers. From the "small white church" of 1896 through the construction and occupancy of the rock church on Florence Boulevard to the Spanish¬style buildings in use on the 80th Anniversary of the founding of the congregation, these buildings have been only the tangible evidence of the dedication to God and His people shown by those who were here then, are here now, and with His help will continue to be here tomorrow.

Even after the Presbyterian Church ceased to monopolize Casa Grande's Protestants in its congregation, it remains an ecumenically oriented denomination. It has worked closely and cordially with the other local denominations as they gained strength. The Presbyterian pastor has always been active in the local Ministerial Alliance.

This organization does such things as conduct a program of study and of relief to the needy. A case in point is the "Sheriff's Pantry" project. Transients who need emergency help are referred to the Police Department. It in turn notifies the minister assigned to the program that week. He investigates the actual needs, assuring fair consideration and avoids duplication. Funds are provided through specified offerings - one is taken at the Wodd Day of Prayer observance, and another at the Thanksgiving union service. Food donations to the "Sheriff's Pantry" also come from individuals and organizations.

Casa Grande Holy Week observances each year are ecumenical activities, and the Presbyterian denomination is one that cooperates in them. In the 1970's, these have consisted of a program of luncheon and devotional meetings throughout Holy Week.

In 1958, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. and the United Presbyterian Church of North America merged to form the United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. This is the organization of which the local Presbyterian Church is a member. Its govering body, which meets biennially is the General Assembly, chaired by the elected Moderator. The General Assembly in turn is made up of Synods, and the Synods are composed of Presbyteries. The Casa Grande Church is a member of the De Cristo Presbytery where it is grouped with Tucson and communities of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. De Cristo Presbytery in turn is a member of the Synod of the South¬west which includes Arizona, New Mexico and a bit of Texas.

Within the local church the Session, consisting of twelve elected and ordained Elders, is the governing body. They are also commissioned trustees of the church cor¬poration. The Board of Deacons, also elected and ordained to their office, looks into the needs of individuals and of families, and serves as directed by the Session and the congregation.

Organizations within the church structure are the United Presbyterian Women - including all women of the church - the Desert Mariners composed of young married couples, and the Youth Fellowship. There is also a full church school program which conducts classes for persons of all ages.

At the end of 1976, the membership in the congregation numbered just under 500 individuals.

In the brochure prepared at the outset of the Sanctuary building program consideration was given to those for whom the new structure would be erected. That phase was completed, but because block and beam, tile and stained glass are secondary to the spiritual aspect, we repeat, III that deeper sense the answer to the question,

"For Whom Do We Build?"

"We build For those of advanced years to whom the Presbyterian Church of Casa Grande is especially dear. For its long-time members who have labored faithfully in its service. For the retirees who have sought a church home here when they have moved from other communities, as permanent residents or winter visitors.

"We build
For those in the prime of their working years. They are the backbone of a community and church. They have made their choice of a faith and a denomination in which they can take an active part.

"We build
For the young married couples, newly establishing homes and families and businesses or careers. They add new enthusiasm and dedication to the established in¬stitution.

No less for the "singles" - career people with a need for our Christian fellowship and with much to contribute to the life of the church.

"We build
For the youth and for the very young. They are the church's future and its hope. For them the church and its people should be a beacon, a guide and a promise.

"We build, remembering that 'unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it . . . Psalm 127:1.' "