Third Presbyterian Church

In 1873 a frame building was built at the northeast corner of Sixth and North Grand. The membership was twenty-three, and the minister was Dr. Paynter. We could have gone to the east side as our church had opened a Sunday School in 1866 in the Wabash shops, which later became the Brainerd Chapel, from which Fifth Church was organized. We could have gone to the west side as our church had a Sunday School at the corner of Rutledge and Carpenter. We decided that the best opportunity for Christian work was in the north end. This part of the city was sparsely settled; the old Watch Factory was not opened until that year. The old rolling mill came later, about 1880. There was no transportation in those days to Oak Ridge. Even Lincoln Park was not opened. Nevertheless, soon a large Sunday School was flourishing. By the middle of the 1880's, the enrollment had gone over 300. The superintendent of the Sunday School was the editor and publisher of a Sunday School paper, which was held in high esteem by folks who loved Bible teaching. The pastors who served in the little frame church were J.I. Gulick, who went from here to Mason City, Illinois; A.K. Bates; F.M. Baldwin, who lived to be over 90 years of age and organized many Sunday Schools, especially in the south; E.S. McMichael, who died in 1889 and whose body is buried in Oak Ridge.

In 1890 the church at Seventh and Bergen was built. It was built on the Akron plan because we were doing great work in our Sunday School. It cost $15,000, exclusive of the donated labor, and there was a considerable amount of that. The Pastor was Dr. Gerrit Snyder, who built the Belden Avenue Church in Chicago and was just the man to supervise the building of our church. In the course of his long ministry, he built seven new churches. Dr. Snyder was a very successful personal worker. One of his contributions to evangelical literature was a study of the Book of John as an aid to the personal worker. During his time, Christian Endeavor flourished and there were societies for all ages. About 1891 the Sunday School in Ridgely was started. It was housed for a good many years in a large residence at the northeast corner of 15th and Sangamon and was known as the Lavinia Beach Reading Room. Out of this came the Clementine Memorial Church.