Dedicated December 6, 1908, the new First Congregational church at Admiral boulevard and Highland avenue, in northeast Kansas City, was for 60 years one of Kansas City's most magnificent churches. The church was a December 5, 1905, consolidation of an earlier First Congregational church at Eleventh and McGee streets and the Clyde Congregational church near Seventh street and Brooklyn avenue. A building committee was composed of E. E. Holmes, A. P. Marty, H. M. Lee, Eugene Rust and C. B. Norton. At the suggestion of Mayor Henry M. Beardsley the names of Mrs. J. H. Kitchen and Mrs. George E. Matthews were added. Clarence Shephard was the architect of the English Gothic building, with its 23-inch-thick walls of Gothic stone. The church had high, vaulted ceilings and a heavy oak door. Windows were Norman Gothic with a tracery pattern of stone. On the east side of the tower were three large, stained-glass windows, which were reproductions of famous paintings. There were several amber glass windows with designs of green leaves. In 1958 the congregation celebrated 50 years in this location and a pageant was given recalling 1863, when the City of Kansas was a military post and Long's hall at 509 Main street was used Congregational services. In later years the church, as well as the neighborhood, began to deteriorate. For a while the church was a mission church, receiving part of its support from the mother church. The end came in 1966, when the building was razed and the grounds sold to a motor car firm. Funds from the sale helped finance the new St. Mark's, an experimental ecumenical church of four denominations and four pastors under one roof, located at 1101 Euclid avenue. Kansas City Star, March 1, 1969.
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