First Presbyterian Church

The walls make this church unusual. Under William Hamilton, the builder D. E. Reed began it in 1856 along with Hamilton's own house and a new Indian mission in what is now Thurston County, all three of rubble limestone bound with grout and faced with stucco, a way of building seldom found in Nebraska outside Bellevue. Some older stucco was scored to look like cut stone. A tower and spire added in 1869 were badly damaged by a tornado around 1900, and the 1970 nomination judged the crenelated tower that replaced them out of keeping.

What the plaque says

First Presbyterian Church Before the organization of Nebraska Territory in 1854, missions were established among the Indian tribes of this area. In 1850, Rev. Edward McKinney founded the first Presbyterian Church of Nebraska with five members. He had arrived in Bellevue in 1846 to take over the work of the Indian missions. In 1853, Rev. William Hamilton replaced him as pastor. In 1856, the church body was reorganized and the construction of a permanent edifice was begun. The building was thirty by forty feet and took two years to complete. It was one of the earliest churches built in Nebraska and is the oldest surviving structure built as a church. Additions to the building were made in 1869, and in 1904 it was enlarged to more than double its original size. The Social Hall was added in 1924. Seating only five hundred, the church became too small for the needs of the congregation. Thus after providing religious services for more than a century, it was replaced in 1958 by a new building. It has been preserved as a symbol of our pioneer religious heritage. Mrs. Harold D. LeMar Historical Land Mark Council

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Durham Museum (Omaha Union Station) — 7.9 mi
  Omaha's 1931 Union Station, Gilbert Stanley Underwood's Art Deco depot for the Union Pacific, closed to trains in 1971 and kept as a city museum with its waiting room intact.
• Joslyn Art Museum — 8.8 mi
  Omaha's free art museum, a 1931 Art Deco memorial with two modern pavilions, and the keeper of Karl Bodmer's watercolors from the upper Missouri in 1833 and 1834.
• Malcolm X Birthsite — 11 mi
  The North Omaha lot where Malcolm Little was born in May 1925 and his family was driven out by the Klan, saved by Rowena Moore and now planned as a cultural center.
• Winter Quarters and the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery — 14 mi
  The Latter-day Saint camp of 1846 to 1848 on Omaha land in what is now Florence, where hundreds died the first winter, and the cemetery and trail center beside it.

More markers nearby

• Bellevue — steps away
• Bellevue Log Cabin — steps away
• Fontenelle Bank - County Courthouse — 0.2 mi
• Bellevue Rifle Range — 1.1 mi