First Presbyterian

First Presbyterian Church
900 Jordan Street, Shreveport

   A commission from the Central Mississippi Presbytery of the Synod of Mississippi organized the congregation in February of 1845. Twenty Presbyterians formed this church under Rev. James Gallagher.  Although no one really knows where the congregation first worshipped, tradition holds that it was in a schoolhouse.¹

In February of 1851 the congregation built a brick church on the west side of Market Street between Milam and Crockett. Rev. J. Franklin Ford was the pastor at the time. Slaves were allowed to worship in the basement beneath the church.² From 1863 until the end of the Civil War the church served as a military hospital as well as barracks for the Union troops. The bell had previously been donated to the Confederacy; it was melted down and used for artillery shells.³

The church had partially collapsed after the Civil War. It was declared unsafe and was torn down. The congregation sold the property and moved to the corner of Travis and Edwards Streets, where they had purchased property from Ann M. Beall for $3,100.⁴ For two years the church went without regular services, although a Sunday school did meet at the Baptist church during this time. In 1868 Rev. W. C. Dunlap became pastor, and his congregation built a new church. Construction began in 1870. The church, made of red brick, had high ceilings and turrets.⁵ The first service at this church was held in January of 1872 without lighting or heating.⁶ The following year, the church lost twenty-two members of its congregation in the yellow fever epidemic. After the turn-of-the-century the church was remodeled and some additions were made.⁷

The congregation bought property on Jordan Street from H. C. Walker, Jr. for $30,000 and began construction on their new church on November 21, 1924. The fifteenth-century English Gothic structure was completed on November 6, 1925 for a total cost of $375,000. It was built of red brick and stone. Double stained glass windows were removed from the church at Travis and Edwards Streets and installed at the landing of the stairways on the west side of the new structure. It also features rubber tile and marble floors, vaulted ceilings, plaster walls, wooden ceiling beams, and oak doors.⁸

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