by Dwight M. Miller
The image is the third poster CACHE received as a gift from Community West Bank in 2023. This early photo captures the construction of a second church building during Exeter’s early days. The current First Presbyterian Church, located at the southwest corner of South E Street and Maple Street, shares the same lot with this historic church building. This church was built in 1909, but some context for this church growth in the early history of Exeter is in order.
In the early 1800s only 10% of Americans belonged to a church. In the 1820–30s, the East and Midwest experienced a massive popular revival of Christianity known as the Second Great Awakening. That led to tremendous growth in American Christian churches. Huge revivals with thousands in attendance took place in all states, leading to an increase in converted and committed Christians. By 1840, church attendance had risen to 70%! The impact of this massive growth led to major social movements for women’s suffrage, as well as against slavery and alcohol. As the nation spread westward, the “Temperance” movement, a crusade to reduce drunkenness, became pervasive. By the late 1800s, large numbers of settlers from Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio flooded into central California in search of opportunity. They carried their Christian faith with them. Traveling preachers were common in the Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist churches as California communities grew. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the first church in the Exeter area was Baptist (1892), the second was Presbyterian (1907), and the third was Methodist (1912).
Donna Retheford Weekly, who grew up a couple blocks from the church from the 1930s to 1950s, shared a story about how Mr. Harold Stadtmiller, the longtime principal at Lincoln School and talented musician, would play the organ every Sunday morning before the church service began, allowing the whole town to hear worshipful melodies through the speakers in the bell tower. Mrs. Rae Clawson, wife of the longtime Exeter Sun Publisher, Watt Clawson, played at every wedding and funeral held in the church from about 1915 through the 1950s. Over the years, First Presbyterian Church leaders have impacted Exeter in a variety of civic activities, serving on the City Council, school boards, scouting leadership, Kiwanis, Lions and fraternal organizations.
The first directors of this Presbyterian church were Thomas N. Dungan, Cornelius W. Ostrander, and Charles N. Jordan. These three men were all in their fifties or sixties at the time. Dungan and Ostrander had been in Exeter for about ten years, having relocated from Virginia and Tennessee in the 1890s with their families. Jordan moved to Exeter a few years prior to church leadership, around 1904. In November 1907, they filed the incorporation papers.
