Our History, 1869–74

As the transcontinental railroad neared completion in 1869, the Protestant establishment of the United States seemed to be on a collision course with Latter-day Saint hegemony in Utah Territory. In Salt Lake City, Episcopalians consecrated St. Mark’s Cathedral three blocks from the Salt Lake tabernacle less than a month before the dedication of First Presbyterian Church just a block beyond that. The government-backed Protestant establishment seemed to be closing in on the Mormon establishment. In that context church historian Orson Pratt continued to function as the major narrator, repeating again and again the story of Joseph Smith’s first vision in ways that consolidated as a usable past in the context of an embattled present.

Helping the Homeless in Dallas: Lessons and Challenges from a Faith-Based Nonprofit

The Stewpot is an agency in downtown Dallas that has been serving the hungry and homeless for more than 30 years. Its founding story has become the stuff of legend: In the mid-1970s, First Presbyterian Church staff was approached more and more often by people living on the streets who needed something to eat. In response, the church started to keep on hand a supply of canned goods that could be handed out. At the time, the practice was that each person who asked would be given two cans of food, with the labels removed so that they could not be resold. But there came a day in 1975 when one of the associate pastors handed the last two cans to a man who needed them … and then helplessly watched him try to open one of the cans with the only tool available in his possession: a key. Before the end of the year First Presbyterian had given up on the notion of handing out cans of food, and had created the Stewpot, preparing and serving a noontime meal in the church's kitchen and fellowship hall. Within two weeks, there were more than 100 people coming for lunch every weekday (Adams 2006).