In 1880 following his move to Albuquerque for his son’s health (consumption), Father Jacob Mills Ashley, along with a small group of like minded protestant individuals, decided to form a church. The founders represented several protestant denominations. Professor Charles Howe, principal of Albuquerque Academy, was probably a Congregationalist. Mary Snyder, teacher at Albuquerque Academy, was the daughter of a Presbyterian elder. Rufus Fox, carpenter, was a Lutheran. Father Ashley, first minister, was a Congregationalist minister. In October of 1880 through a covenantal agreement, these four individuals formed the first Congregational Church in New Mexico. Mary Snyder commented later that with Ashley as minister, Howe as Deacon, and Fox as treasurer, she alone was the congregation. Their first meetings were held in a small adobe room in Old Town. By January, 1881, the Congregationalists had outgrown their room in Old Town and determined to move to New Town.
With the assistance of Franz Huning, who, like Fox, was a Lutheran, they acquired two lots in the Highland Addition, at the corner of what later was to become Broadway and Coal. One of the lots was donated by Huning and the other secured by Father Ashley by pledging $100 of his salary. Fox and his carpenter partner, Augustine Rutherford, who had just been named to the newly formed Board of Trustees, offered to build the ‘house’. “Lumber was put on the ground on the twelfth of March,” Fox recalled, “and work commenced while Brother Ashley was hustling around for the dinero.” As the carpenters worked, Father Ashley continued to seek contributions, and by the ninth of April, when the building was completed, he had received pledges for $1,607.28, the total cost of the structure. Thus, within thirty days, the seven Congregationalists had a place of worship and were free of debt.
As the only Protestant Church in the territory, an area larger
than England, Scotland, and Wales put together, the building served many
purposes. There was a Sabbath school with twenty-six pupils, and other
denominations used the facilities. This original structure lasted until
October 1888, when the forty four resident members approved plans for a new
and very ambitious project. It was to cost more than three times their
existing structure and the Congregation had to borrow $5000. On March 30,
1890, the new Congregational Church was dedicated. A reporter from the
Daily Citizen wrote that he had wanted to take notes on the sermon for his
readers, but he was so crowded he could not move enough to write.
After such a spectacular start, the following years provided many challenges, setbacks and even prompted the trustees to recommend closing down the church.
The first setback occurred when in 1892 a faulty flue in the two-and-a-half-year old church building caused it to catch fire. The flames consumed the interior and all that remained were the walls and the tower. The clerk recorded that “The future looked very dark, and we felt unequal to the task of replacing the church.” Fortunately, the insurance on the building just covered the estimated $6,000 loss. After the reconstruction the congregation agreed to build a parsonage for their new minister, the Rev. A. B. Christy. He remained only four years but left the congregation another $3,000 in debt, just in time for the depression of 1893—94. In 1894, the clerk recorded that this year “will always be remembered in the history of this church as one of great financial embarrassment.” Also recorded, “The year 1897, has been a year of work and self-denial on the part of this church… Pastor and [we] … have felt the effects of hard times.” By 1898, the congregation finally managed to pay off its debts. “[This] year has been the final deliverance of this church from the financial complications which have embarrassed it for several years … [it] stands today free of all interest-bearing debts.” The following year, 1899, the 1222 church members voted that the church should become financially independent.
In the early 1900’s, this remote, thinly populated territory housed only twelve churches, while there were at least thirteen saloons. In 1900 Albuquerque was a city of 6,283, with an urban population of about 10,000. By 1920, the population had grown to 15,000.
Between 1900 and 1922, First Congregational had seven ministers. One, Rev. Richard Orton, resigned after just two months. In 1918, there were temporary pastors, and called pastors who refused to stay after finding out that the call vote had been widely split. The church was even closed from October 2 to December 2 because of the Spanish influenza quarantine. The extensive financial difficulties were only compounded by the erratic ministerial calendar. Between 1900 and 1910 the situation grew worse, as debts for the parsonage, organ, purchased in 1906 and for general repairs to the church accumulated. In 1909 Rev. March donated five of his $150 per month salaries to help alleviate the problems. In 1912 the situation had become so desperate that the Trustees recommended that the church be closed at the end of three months and that the property be sold. This is the only time in the recorded history of the church that the Trustees have recommended closure. True prosperity did not happen again until the mid-twenties, with the arrival of a minister who remained for a significant length of time, the Rev. George W. Weber who served the church from February 1923 to February 1938.
During the twenties and thirties, the church was fortunate enough to be served by Rev. George Weber, who began his fifteen year pastorate in 1923. Shortly before moving on to a new pastorate in Salt Lake City, Rev. Weber oversaw an ambitious project to renovate the church structure, now forty five years old. During 1935 the congregation spent about $3,000 to refurbish and repair both inside and outside, as well as put on a new roof. This was to prove to be just a stop gap measure, for changes in Albuquerque during these years were to cause drastic decisions within the church before another decade had passed.
From 1929 to 1939, the nation suffered one of the most severe economic depressions in American history. During the early thirties many people in Albuquerque were either out of work or restricted to a short working week. As a result of the massive federal funding of recovery programs, (the famous alphabet agencies), Albuquerque actually prospered. Between 1920 and 1940, the city more than doubled its population, increasing from 15,000 to 35,000. As trucks and cars became more important in the nation, the city grew as a transportation center and as a tourist attraction. By the end of the 1920’s. the health industry was second only to the railroad in terms of economic importance to the city. During this time, the university also experienced remarkable growth, from only 610 students in 1927, to more than 2,500 in 1937. By the late thirties, the university’s economic value to the city was estimated at one million dollars per year. The campus begun on bare mesa land was suddenly becoming an unexpected asset.
During these years the city’s residential areas began to fill in the region surrounding the campus. University Heights was annexed in 1925 and the Monte Vista area began to develop in the early thirties. In 1935, the Christian Church began construction on their new church building in the Monte Vista area. Other denominations began to build second and third churches away form the Highland area. These changes gave the Congregationalists, in their traditional site at Broadway and Coal, some disquieting thoughts.
In 1940 members considered building an addition to the church.
Change was in the offing but a radical decision still lay several years
away. Between 1938 and 1943, two ministers served the congregation — Rev.
O. R. Warford and Rev. C. L. Curtice — but neither remained long enough to
make a lasting impact. What held the church together at this low ebb in its
history was a core group of members whose dedication to First Congregational
was a testimony to their endurance and their faith.
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