Google™ Map Venues Index

First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood

The Kirkwood Association, a group of St. Louis businessmen taking their name from James Kirkwood, the chief engineer of the Pacific Railroad, officially platted their new town on May 31, 1853.  They were led by Hiram Leffingwell, the real estate developer who had proposed Grand Boulevard the previous year and who was later to promote the creation of Forest Park.  The railroad was the impetus for the new community, having begun service to the area just two weeks earlier.  Kirkwood thus became the first planned commuter suburb in St. Louis County, and this year marks its 150th anniversary.  As a legal municipality, Kirkwood is second in the County only to Florissant, having been incorporated in 1865.

The First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood was one of the first to serve the new community, organized on September 24, 1854 by a group of seven former members of Second, Central, and Des Peres Presbyterian churches.  In 1857, the Kirkwood Association gave the land at the southeast corner of Adams and the present Kirkwood Road, and a plain brick building was erected.  Dr. John R. Warner arrived as the first full-time pastor in 1867.  His granddaughter, the poet Marianne Moore, was born in the manse next to the church on November 15, 1887.  The next year the brick church was replaced by a larger stone one designed by J.G. Cairns.  Young Marianne and her family left Kirkwood after Dr. Warner died in 1894.

As the church grew, additions were made in 1929 and 1951.  Then in 1956-57 an entirely new sanctuary designed by Fisher & Campbell was built to seat almost 1,000 on the site of the old manse.  Robert Fisher and Will Campbell were both recent graduates of Washington University and members of the congregation.  Campbell later recalled how they retreated to Colorado for five weeks to work on their plans, inspired by the mountains.  Other inspirations included the post-war churches Dominikus Boehm and others in Germany and Scandinavia.  The resulting building combines Indiana limestone and coral-colored brick to create a traditional space with modern detailing.  Since the large sanctuary extends back through the depth of the lot, the dominant element from the street is the broad-arched arcade, which effectively screens the disparate older additions behind it and integrates the new building with them.  Inside, the notable structural features are the tall columns, which define side aisles arched by internal flying buttresses.  Joseph Meyer of Jacoby Art Glass Company designed the 13 towering stained glass windows for the apse and 74 small windows for the east wall.  Above the altar Jesus is depicted, while to the left are six authors of the Old Testament (Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, David and Daniel) and to the right six authors of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter and Paul), each with two quotations and related scenes below.  The symbols in the east windows include on the lowest register the winged creatures of the four Evangelists and above them attributes of the Apostles (such as the X-shaped cross for Andrew).

Renovations to the church in 1979 included demolition of the 1888 building, leaving the tower in a park-like setting.  The congregation began to consider another round of building in June 2003, when designs by the award-winning firm of Powers-Bowersox were unveiled to replace the 1929 and 1951 wings with more easily accessible spaces.

November 9, 2003 marks the Chamber Chorus’ first performance here.