First Presbyterian Church (Buffalo, New York)
Coordinates: 42°54′05″N 78°52′55″W / 42.901386°N 78.881857°W
The First Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, New York was the first organized religious body formed in what was then the western frontier of New York State. The town of Buffalo was sparsely populated when the church was organized on February 2, 1812. However, having survived the War of 1812, the town of Buffalo was rebuilt and rapidly grew with the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825. The first two buildings were located on the same downtown lot. However, the congregation relocated between 1889 and 1891 to its present location approximately one and-a-half miles to the north in a more residential area.
Organized February 2, 1812, by the traveling Missionary, Reverend Thaddeus Osgood during his fifth annual visit to the then village of Buffalo, "The First Presbyterian and Congregationalist Church of the town of Buffalo" as it was then known, was a small, but devoted group of pioneers, who could not afford a building of their own. Thus, services were held in either a schoolroom on Pearl St. near Swan, or at the home of Mrs. Esther Pratt, whose home was on the southwest corner of Main and Exchange Street (then called Crow Street). After the War of 1812, public worship was resumed as the work of reconstruction began. The faithful met in Landon's Tavern, or at the unfinished home of Deacon Amos Callender, located on the east side of Pearl Street (south of Swan Street), or at various locations around town such as the homes of other church members. Worship services were regularly held in the south room of the Old Court House building that was situated on Washington Street, (now the present site occupied by the Public Library) this arrangement was made until the first wooden building was constructed a few blocks to the south at "The Commons" which would later be renamed Shelton Square. On December 5, 1815, the church was formally incorporated as "The First Presbyterian Society of the Town of Buffalo" the trustees presented themselves on December 28, 1815, to Judge Charles Townsend, Judge of Niagara County, of which Erie County was then part, and the record of incorporation was duly recorded in the records on April 16, 1816.
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