First Presbyterian Bicentennial

Side A: Sidney’s First Presbyterian Church formally organized on September 4, 1825, under the guidance of Reverend Joseph Stevenson, who traveled from Bellefontaine for that purpose. The original eight-member congregation worshipped outdoors or in the Shelby County Courthouse until able to finance their own building in 1834. First Presbyterian’s small frame chapel was constructed on the half-acre parcel that became their permanent home. Two centuries later, the congregation continues to worship at the corner of Miami Avenue and North Street on Lot 109, set aside for religious use in Charles Starrett’s 1819-1820 agreements platting Sidney’s original 70-acre tract. (Continued on other side) Side B: (Continued from other side) As the congregation grew, they replaced their wooden chapel with a Greek-Revival brick church in 1847, incorporated as First Presbyterian Church of Sidney in November 1857, and dedicated their third, larger, church on September 24, 1882. Starrett originally set aside the adjacent Lot 113 for use as a cemetery. When City Council forbade internments within city limits in 1898, the Presbyterian Cemetery was sold to Sidney City Schools for a new high school building, and the graves were removed to Graceland Cemetery. After the school was demolished in 2005, Lot 113 ownership returned to First Presbyterian.