The Titusville First Presbyterian manse and church was built in 1855 on then-unimproved River Road.
Titusville’s First Presbyterian Church celebrates its 175th anniversary with a book outlining its history “Along the Delaware.”
By Anna Cunningham
Since 1838, Presbyterians have gathered on Hopewell Township’s eastern border in Titusville’s First Presbyterian Church, which is poised so prettily above the Delaware River that it’s become sought as a wedding venue for locals and nonlocals alike.
This year, the church is celebrating its 175th anniversary.
To mark the milestone, the Rev. William Shurley and anniversary committee members decided to undertake a church history, a project that has resulted in the recently published book, Shall We Gather … 175 Years Along the Delaware, written by church member James J. Dawson.
Dawson, a former lawyer, led a team of volunteers that searched out nearly 200 years worth of “books, bundles, files, folders, envelopes and boxes” from all over the church, and then transcribed the thousands of handwritten documents.
“I made the decision early on to base the history on original church records, not on the oral history, or anecdotal history or history created from memory,” Dawson said.
Shall We Gather outlines how in 1838, Joseph Titus, namesake of the village, organized the 48 original church members and donated land and funds for construction so he and his neighbors no longer had to travel to Pennington for worship.
“In 1834, the Delaware Canal was dug, and the feeder canal goes right through Titusville. With that canal came a great deal of economic activity, such that Titusville at one time was a thriving commercial district, the fastest growing area of Hopewell Township,” Shurley said. “And so I think there was an idea that there needed to be a spiritual locus here, as there would have been in every town in this part of the world at the time.”
The book profiles 24 pastors who tended the Titusville flock: those who stayed briefly, and those who spent decades devoted to the spiritual and material well-being of Titusville residents. As well as detailing the church’s origins and profiling its many ministers, the book portrays the church’s changing character, beginning with its 19th century role ensuring faithfulness to the “Presbyterian expectation of a life well lived in accordance with well-defined standards of moral and religious behavior,” as the book puts it, by disciplining members for intoxication, not paying debts and for extramarital affairs, among other misdeeds.
Shall We Gather also shows the church’s evolving position on social issues, from the 1849 “Resolution on Dancing,” which recommended abstention “from the seductive and besotting vice,” to choosing sides in the country’s various wars, the role of women in the church, all the way to contemporary issues, such as the definition of marriage.
“One of the things I’ve appreciated is that history explains to me very clearly that every church, as it is with most every institution, has a certain DNA. It has a certain set of proclivities,” Shurley said. “And so some of the things that we address today and we struggle with today are things that have popped up throughout the history of the Church”
Shurley said the book has helped him appreciate the congregation in its historical context.
“This is a living history here: we are not a relic; we are not a museum. We are people who have been formed and shaped by our past, and we’re trying to see how we can most faithfully interpret that path as we go into the future,” he said.
Dawson was impressed by the simple dedication of generations of people of faith.
“The (book’s) real value is the history of the ordinary, and the fact that for 175 years, the people of this church went about the business of loving God and loving neighbor the best way they could. I think that at the end of the day, that’s what’s most important of all,” Dawson said.
Shall We Gather is available for purchase at the church and at the 175th anniversary year events the church is holding his year, and will help emphasize the integral relationship of the Church to its community.
“Our theme for the anniversary is ‘Titusville at 175, loving God and loving neighbor since 1838.’ Of course we draw that theme from Jesus’ teachings about the two Great Commandments,” Shurley said.
Festivities opened last December with a tour of Titusville, which gave an intimate look at historic local buildings. In March, a newly-gifted 1883 Steinway grand piano debuted in a recital featuring a hymn specially composed for the 175th anniversary, “This is the Day the Lord Has Made” by Rev. Andrew Philip Long.
A Heritage Day Festival, showcasing local farms, artisans and nonprofit groups like the 4H and Boy Scouts, is scheduled for June 1. Anniversary events are set to close Sept. 7 with a worship service to include an organ and trumpet prelude, and a sermon by Pastor Emeritus Rev. Robert William Shaub, who served from 1971-1998.
First Presbyterian Church of Titusville is located at 48 River Drive, Titusville. On the Web: titusvillechurch.org.
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