La
Grande Schools and Churches, Union County,
Oregon
Churches
in La Grande
After the birth of the little community
which was to become the city of La
Grande, one of the first interests
of the
people was the establishment of a church.
To the Methodist group goes the honor
of being the first to conduct organized
religious
services and these were
begun in 1863 in
the
old store building, formerly known as
the OK Grocery, in Old Town. The
first minister
to preside was the Reverend Doha
Flynn. People of all denominations used
this building, however, services
being held for the respective groups
whenever an itinerant minister of a
particular faith appeared in
La Grande. Union services and a
Union Sunday School were conducted in this
building also.
The second organized group to have services
in La Grande and the first to have its
own church building was the Episcopal
Church. Under the direction of Reverend R.
D. Nevius, they began services in 1884 and
10 years later erected the first church
building in La Grande on the south-east
corner of Fourth and D Streets. It is
interesting to note that the first service
held in this building was a marriage
ceremony. Miss Anna Webb became the bride
of Jasper
Stevens on 24
September, 1874. The building was not
completed, but the
principals in the wedding were
pleased that the activities of the church
began with such a happy event.
Services of those
of the Catholic faith were first held in
1867 at the Gangloff residence in La
Grande. Father Dittman of Baker
officiating. Before the erection of the
first Catholic Church in the valley, at Island
City in 1882,
services were held in other
communities, particularly in the Catherine
Creek area where many French Canadians
resided. The church was built through the
generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Gangloff at
Island City as it had been the
understanding that the main depot of the
railroad company in Grande Ronde
Valley would be located
there. The first Catholic Church
building in La Grande was erected in 1890 and
served until the present structure
was erected and dedicated in 1915.
The first
people of Mormon faith canoe into
Union County in the 1890's
and missionaries came shortly thereafter.
Before the completion of the present
Mormon tabernacle in 1908 the Latter Day
Saints worshipped at first
in private homes, then
in the
Steward Opera House, and then in
their own building, erected on the site of
the present Mormon Recreation Hall.
Members of this group organized in all of
the other valley communities and a church
house, still standing was erected at Pine
Grove above Elgin. The sugar factory
enterprise in the late 90s in Grande
Ronde
Valley was promoted by
members of this group and it would
undoubtedly have been most successful
had there been irrigation facilities
in the valley for the growing of sugar
beets.
The first meeting
of the Presbyterians was held in 1877 and
a church building was constructed in 1886.
The present Presbyterian Church was
erected in 1925. The Baptist congregation
first met to organize a church in 1872,
and the present building was
erected in 1906. Other
denominations represented in La Grande
in the
past and present are the
Lutheran, Christian, Adventist, Nazarene
and United Brethren groups.
Education
The proper education of their
children was a matter of prime importance
to the pioneers who established La Grande
and the first school
was organized in the
late fall of
1862.
Provedence
M.. Currey,
a
man of
broad education, consented to
become the
teacher holding the school in his home.
The first school presented a marked contrast
with the fine education facilities
offered to the children of this region
today. The school was held in
a cabin that stood on a hillside
near what
was
known as the Patterson place
between B and C Avenues on First
Street. Desks were made of logs
while boxes and split timbers served as seats.
The only available text book was
a First Reader that Joseph Baker
father of one of the first pupils
had brought with him across the plains. To
teach the A-B-C's the resourceful Mr.
Currey cut large letters
from the headlines of some
eastern
Newspapers which had found their way
to the west. The school was
taught as a "rate school” the parents paying
10 dollars a
term as tuition for the
education of their children. Six students
met with Mr. Currey during that year, they
being Joseph Baker Jr., Ada Brown, Esther
Brown, George Chase, Sarah Russell and
William Russell.
The second year of
school, 1863-1864 was taught by Miss
Mollie Babbington later Mrs John Wilson. School
was probably held in the same log cabin used
the previous year.
The school
held in the year 1864 and 1965 was taught
by S.
M. Grandy. Mr. J. D. Slater
later a prominent attorney of La Grande
recalled that there was a small school
house built probably during the summer of
1864. This
building constructed of rough boards
battened with narrow strips of rough
lumber was about
20 or 25 feet
wide and 30 or 35
feet long and
it was probably in this structure
that Mr. Grandy held forth as
schoolmaster. The building was not long
used as
a school but was sold after
two years to
A.C.
Huntington
who moved it to the north
side of
C
Street where he used it for a
number
of years as the
back
part of his furniture
and
cabinet
making shop.
A larger
schoolhouse to replace that just described
was built by the Bowman
brothers on the north side of B
Street. This was a two-story building, the
lower floor being given over to the
younger students and the upper room to
older pupils. Later when the lower floor
of the building was used as a print slop,
a thick covering of sawdust was laid on
the upper
floor to deaden the sound of the
scholars’ feet as they minted about
probably with a heavy tread in the coarse footwear
of that day.
Contributed by: Jim Reavis
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