The celebration on December 18, 2004 commemorated the 100th anniversary of the dedication of this sanctuary and honors the 1914 Estey-2002 Bosman pipe organ.

These notes are from histories written by Dr. Minnie Howard in 1928, and Madalene M. Brainard in 1963.

The First Congregational Church was founded by missionaries in 1887 responding to the request of an early Pocatello railroad worker, Blickensderfer by name, to start a Sunday School for residents’ children.

This became the first church in Pocatello when the town was only 20 acres in the midst of Indian Territory. The first school house and lodge room was built in 1887 on North Harrison Avenue. A small organ accompanied singing, the first sermons and the first Christmas tree lighted. This location was chosen because many low-income workers lived on the east side of 13 sets of tracks. It was dangerous for children to cross. The First Congregational Church was formally incorporated in Idaho in 1889.
But the town center was on the west side of the tracks and toward the Portneuf river. So a small chapel was built on the north side of Center street between Arthur and Cleveland (now Main) to house the growing congregation. A replica of this building is located above Ross Park. In addition to residents, Sunday Evening services were attended by traveling salesmen, temporary railroad people and others who often spent Sunday in Pocatello. These men found the “church on the street” a convenient place to stop and worship, and also meet people from the railroad and local businesses socially and as contacts for sales work during the week.

As Pocatello grew, the chapel was becoming too small. The property at Garfield and Lander, was acquired in 1893 for $850. By 1902 the Center Street chapel was moved to the North Garfield property. This transition was not without significant debate. Rev. C. W. Luck was censured for getting the church lots, including property for a parsonage, so far out from the center of town. There was talk of trading for “lots close in.”

But the town was growing. Church growth required more space. On May 9, 1904 the congregation voted to accept a low bid of $8,515 of contractor J. F. Murry to erect the building. Plans and specifications were prepared. On review, changes were desired so the contract was increased to $10,807, a cornerstone procured and building commenced. The current sanctuary dedicated in December 1904. The bell from the first chapel was moved to the tower on the new sanctuary. Mortgage payments were $300 per year.

The building was expanded in 1928. In this expansion, the sanctuary was rotated to its present position with Sunday School rooms in the back (west) and a church hall and kitchen in the basement. The building was expanded again in 1957 to add more classrooms, a gym-social hall and modern kitchen . The Congregational denomination merged with others in 1957 to form the United Church of Christ.

The church purchased its original organ in 1914. It was one of thousands that the Estey Organ Company built for churches in the early part of the 20th-Century. These instruments were all pneumatic action—pressing a key filled a small, leather-covered pouch with air causing it to expand and pivot, which then let air enter one of the pipes. From 1999-2002, Frans Bosman, a Dutch-trained organ builder from Moser Oregon modernized and expanded the organ. The instrument is now a 22-rank pipe organ that used all but two of the organ’s original 11 ranks. (A rank is a complete set of pipes of one particular tonal character.) Mr. Bosman added electronic controls, completed extensive wood work to enhance the instrument’s beauty and tonal quality. The organ is now considered one of the finest in the Northwest.