First Plymouth Congregational Church (Cherry Hills Village, Colorado)

 church, Nondenominational Christianity, United Church of Christ (UCC)

The history of First Plymouth Congregational Church, U.C.C., goes back nearly to the beginning of Denver. Efforts were begun as early as 1860 to establish a Congregational church in Denver. Due to the high cost of maintaining missionaries in the “wild-west” the requests were turned down. Finally in 1863, church officials sent Rev. William Crawford to Denver with an eye towards establishing a Congregational church in Denver. Crawford’s first visit to Denver left him unimpressed and he moved on to the gold mining town of Central City where he established the first Congregational church in the Colorado territory. Crawford returned to Denver in the fall of 1864 and founded the First Congregational Church of Denver on October 9, 1864 with 12 charter members. Rev. Norman McLeod was the first pastor.

As with the other newly formed churches in the pioneer city, the congregation had no home and met in various places until they constructed their first church in 1869 at the corner of 15th and Curtis Street, in what was then a pleasant residential area. With the growth of the congregation and the encroaching business district, it soon became time to think about moving.

In 1881, the congregation built a fine new structure, seating 900, in the 1600 block of Glenarm Place, (currently the site of the Paramount Theatre.) The congregation had several pastors during it’s time on Glenarm. Among them was the Rev. Myron Reed, a noted social action minister, who filled the church every Sunday and whose sermons were widely published the next week. By 1907, the business district was again encroaching on the church and the congregation decided to move up on “the hill” to a new building on the corner of E. 10th Avenue and Clarkson Street. On January 13, 1907, after the final service at the Glenarm church, the building was engulfed in flames and heavily damaged. The congregation had already made arrangements to meet at the Temple Emanuel on 16th & Pearl Street until the new building was completed. They met for the first time in the new building on November 7, 1907. Rev. Monroe Markley was the pastor at the time.

In 1884, another group of Congregationalists was getting together in north Capitol Hill and formed the Park Avenue Congregational Church. They built a small church at 17th Avenue and Ogden Street. In 1891, the struggling congregation found themselves without a pastor. Rev. Frank T. Bayley, was vacationing in Colorado with his family at the time and preached a few times at the little church. The congregation took a liking to Rev. Bayley and offered him the position. In honor of his former pastorate, the congregation voted to rename the church Plymouth Congregational Church. Dr. Bayley would pastor the church for 26 years until his death in 1917. During his pastorate, the congregation began to grow and built a large stone church at E. 14th Avenue and Lafayette St.

By 1929, both First and Plymouth churches were beginning to struggle as members moved farther away and other congregations began drawing members away from the center city churches. The “great depression” of 1929 only worsened the situation. The solution was a merger of the two congregations to become First Plymouth Congregational Church, meeting at the Lafayette St. building.

By the mid-1950’s, the congregation was again bursting at the seams and traffic and parking in the area was becoming an issue. There was no room to expand and staying on Capitol Hill did not seem to be an option. In 1955, the church purchased property at the intersection of Hampden Avenue and South Colorado Boulevard at, what was then, the edge of the city. A new modern church was constructed on the site and the congregation worshiped there for the first time on November 30, 1958.

In 1961, the congregation voted to affiliate with the recently formed United Church of Christ (U.C.C.), which had been created by a merger of the Evangelical and Reformed churches with the Congregational Christian Church. Rev. Dr. Stuart Haskins became the pastor in 1967, a pastorate that would continue for 26 years. Dr. Haskins is now the Pastor Emeritus. In 2005, the call was issued to the Rev. George C. Anastos, the current pastor.

In 2014 First Plymouth Congregational Church celebrated the 150th Anniversary of its founding.