Old North Church (ONC) is in Sierra Madre, California and is a historic landmark building built in 1890, one of the oldest churches and buildings in Sierra Madre. The Old North Church is owned by its builder Christ Church Sierra Madre, called First Congregational Church of Sierra Madre at the time of completion. It is site #50 on Sierra Madre designated historical landmarks list. There are forty-eight properties listed on Sierra Madre's Designated Historical Properties List. In September 2018 Sierra Madre Congregational Church changed its name to Christ Church Sierra Madre.Christ Church Sierra Madre, official web site

History The Old North Church was constructed by hand with local wood. It is located on the north side of the current Sierra Madre Blvd at Hermosa. In 1890 Sierra Madre Blvd was a dirt street called Central Avenue. Old North Church is currently owned by its builder, Christ Church Sierra Madre. The Old North Church is closely linked with the early settlement of Sierra Madre. The community of Sierra Madre was established in the fall of 1881. Sierra Madre Congregational Church started as a Sunday School class in February 1882. Without a building of its own, the church originally met in the city's original 1882 one-room schoolhouse at the corner of Hermosa and Live Oak, now called Orange Grove. To use the schoolhouse as a church on Sunday mornings, the pump organ, hymnbooks, and winter firewood were transported to the schoolhouse by the attendees. The following years the Church met in the original City Hall at the corner Baldwin and Central Ave (Sierra Madre), then the original city library (1889), located at the current library site. With the completion of the Old North Church in 1890, the church had its own meeting spot. The first service was held on August 17, 1890 and a formal dedication was held December 14, 1890. The land for the old North Church was donated by C.E. Cook and W.S. Andrews.Annals of Early Sierra Madre, by Bowen, Edith Blumer, Sierra Madre Historical Society, 1950 Congregational Church of Sierra Madre was officially established on March 27, 1886, as a nondenominational church congregational church, with 13 founding members, called First Congregational Church of Sierra Madre then. One of the 13 founding members was Mrs. Annetta M. Carter (1846-1937), wife of the city founder Nathaniel Coburn Carter (1840-1904). From 1908 to 1910 the Old North Church was expanded with the addition of new meeting rooms, a kitchen and bathrooms. Also in 1910, a furnace was installed to replace the wood-burning stove.

The Church's second, and the current, main building was built across the street. Construction of the new building started in 1926 with Pritchard Hall and was completed in 1928 with the new sanctuary dedicated on June 17, 1928. The sanctuary cornerstone was laid on Feb. 19, 1928. The 1928 Church building is also a Sierra Madre designated historical landmark, as site #39. Having outgrown the Old North Church in the mid-1920s, the Congregational Church of Sierra Madre built a new stone Church in a Romanesque Revival architecture style, designed by Marsh, Smith & Powell. Later after the move, the Old North Church was rented to the First Church of the Nazarene in 1939, then purchased by them in 1942. After the Church of the Nazarene outgrew the Old North Church, it was sold back to Sierra Madre Congregational Church in 1976.City of Sierra Madre, General Plan Technical Background Report, September 2012, PDF file, cityofsierramadre.com/documents Congregational Church purchased back the Old North Church for the use of its youth and children, its current role. Sierra Madre's Cub Scouts Pack 373, Boy Scouts Troop 373, a Scouts BSA troop, meetings are held in the Old North Church. Troop 373 was founded in the Old North Church in 1924. Cub Scouts Pack 373 was started in 1971. Troop 373 was one of the founders of the Sierra Madre Fourth of July parade that then ran from historic Sierra Madre Memorial Park (across the street from the ONC) to historic Sierra Madre Pioneer Cemetery. On February 24, 2024, Troop 373 celebrated is 100 year anniversary.Troop 373G of Sierra Madre

The Old North Church survived the 1991 Sierra Madre earthquake relatively undamaged. The 1928 building had damage to the bell tower, which was torn down brick by brick and rebuilt. The original ONC bell tower was built with a barn shaped roof, modeled after a Dutch church in Holland. Later the Church of the Nazarene changed the bell tower to have a more classic pointed spire. The bell tower housed the 1893 bell weighing 517 pounds, in 1928 the bell was moved to the new south bell tower.Independent Star-News from Pasadena, California, Page 72, February 15, 1959

In 1890 Old North Church attendees had to walk, ride a horse or ride in a horse buggy. In January 1906 the Pacific Electric street car was installed and rolled in front of the Old North Church, on the Sierra Madre Line, each day from January 1, 1906, till service ended on October 6, 1950.

Mrs. Annetta M. Carter, wife of Nathaniel Coburn Carter, was key founder of Sierra Madre Congregational Church. Nathaniel and Annetta married in Feb. of 1864 and had five children. Annetta M. Pierce (Carter) and Nathaniel both were natives of Lowell, Massachusetts, Nathaniel came to California for his health in 1871.LA Times, Community Profile: Sierra Madre, January 23, 1996, by CECILIA RASMUSSENAnnual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California, Volume 6, Page 178, In memory of Nathaniel Coburn Carter In February 1881, Nathaniel Carter purchased the original 1103 acres that comprised the new city of Sierra Madre. The land was acquired in three purchases: 845 acres of Rancho Santa Anita from Lucky Baldwin, 108 acres from the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and 150 acres from John Richardson.Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society, September 2016 Newsletter With no church in the new small town Annetta Carter helped form the worship group in 1882 that became Sierra Madre Congregational Church.Annual Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California, Volume 6, page 178 The ONC bell was made and installed in 1893, and has the quote on it "Let him who hears come." The bell was made by Meneely Bell Foundry, Troy, NY. The bell was presented to the Church by Mr. A. S. Bixby, from Bixby Knolls, Long Beach. The bell was used for Sunday services and funerals, but also had a civic duty, to alert the all-volunteer Fire Department.

The original 1904 Pastor's parsonage house was on the north side of Central Avenue (about 127 W. Sierra Madre Boulevard), but as the city grew the house was now on a busy street, so in 1923 the parsonage was moved to Hermosa, just south of the main Church building.

Just to the west of the Old North Church are two other historic buildings: a 1919 Old Mortuary (was Ripple Mortuary, now called the New Life Center) and the 1915 Caretaker American Craftsman home (now the offices of Christ Church Sierra Madre). Both structures were purchased by the Church in 1986.

The 1928 sanctuary has stained glass windows that were given as memorials. The north side of the sanctuary has four Apostles windows and on the south side are the four Prophets windows. The sanctuary east and west walls have two large windows, the east and the Angel window with the verse "Glory to God in the Highest." and the circular west window is "Christ the Teacher," that was given by the Women's Society and dedicated all the children of Sierra Madre. The lower south widows were a gift from Dick and Dotty Anderson in 2008. Memorial chimes were installed in 1944 into the tower, these played on the hour.Independent Star-News Pasadena, page 8, March 20, 1966

In 1971 Christ Church Sierra Madre (at the time called Sierra Madre Congregational Church) and Bethany Church started the Sierra Madre Christmas Candlelight Walk. The first Candlelight Procession was led by Pastor Bob Vander Zaag of Bethany Church and Rev. Richard Anderson of Sierra Madre Congregational Church.

In September 2018 Sierra Madre Congregational Church changed its name to Christ Church Sierra Madre.

Gallery

Notable pastors Marquis (Marcus) Lafayette Gordon MD (1843-1900), pastor 1886 to 1887. First pastor, part-time. A medical missionary to Kyoto, Japan. He was in Sierra Madre for one year with his wife Agnes and four children.Dartmouth Libraries, Gordon, Marquis Lafayette Lucien Haskell Frary, (1839-1903) pastor from 1887 to 1888History of Haverhill, N.H., By John Quincy Bittinger, Lucien Haskell Frary, page 325 Ephraim E. P. Abbott, (1841-1919) pastor from 1888 to 1898.Biographical Sketches of the Class of 1863, Dartmouth College, By John Scales, page 130The Pacific, Volume 54, Jan. 7, 1904, page 10 W. H. Stubbins, (Rev. William Henry Stubbins 1869–1946) pastor 1898 to 1900.Congregationalist, Advance, Volume 106, page 781, W. H. "Stubbins, Jan. 6, 1921 Rev. Charles S. Rich, (1870-1913) pastor from 1902 to 1903.Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Southern California Congregational Churches, 1913 Pomona, Ca., Rev. Charles S. Rich, Page 39, From Stockbridge, Mass. Dr. James M. Campbell D. D., (1840-1926) pastor from 1903 to 1912The Lutheran Quarterly, Volume 42, 1912, Page 133The Continent, newspaper, Volume 43, March 28, 1912, page 429Northwestern Christian Advocate, Volume 60, page 350, March 12, 1912 William H. Hannaford pastor 1912, 1914-16ancestry.com, William H HannafordDesert Sun, Number 188, Indio Woman Honored As California Mother of 1958, Ruth writes about her father, William H Hannaford, Page 8, May 1, 1958The Pacific - Volume 65, Issues 1-26 - Page 10 Fred Staff, (?-1925) Pastor from 1913 to 1914 and again from 1923 to Nov. 1925, from 1914 to 1916 he returned to Sweden, his native country. Died while pastor. He is honored in SMCC's Fred Staff room. Came from First Congregational Church of Grand Rapids, Wisconsin.The Pacific, Volume 65, Issues 1-26, page 10, 1915Santa Ana Register, Page 8, November 7, 1925 Rev. C. C. Wilson, pastor 1914 to 1920.Wisconsin Congregational Church Life, Volumes 35-36, 1915Santa Ana Register, Page 4, November 17, 1917The Congregationalist and Advance, Volume 105, Jan. 15, 1920, page 80 Rev. W. J. Thompson (Rev. Dr. William J. Thompson), pastor from March 1920 to 1923 (his last church to pastor), from Sheffield came to the US in 1910, later was president of United Amateur Press Association of America.Congregational and Advance, Jan. 15, 1920, page 89 Volume 105 Arthur O. Pritchard, pastor at the time of the opening of the new building in 1928, Pritchard Hall is named after him. Pastor from 1926 to 1940.Scarsdale Inquirer, Number 21, 21 June 1940, Former Pastor Honored, The Rev. Arthur O. Pritchard of Sierra Madre, California From Hollywood Congregational ChurchHolly Leaves, Sept. 9, 1922, Hollywood, Volume 11, Issues 25-52, page 30 George Lindsay pastor from March 1956 to 1964, 20th pastor, (no Sr. Pastor till Howell)Los Angeles Times, Page 381, February 1, 1959Arcadia Tribune, Page 38, August 4, 1966 Rev. David Howell Jr. pastor 1966 to 1968.Arcadia Tribune, Page 32, September 15, 1966 Richard (Dick) Anderson, Sr. Pastor for 40 years, from 1968 to 2008. He is honored in SMCC's Anderson Terrance. James J. Stewart Jr., associate pastor, then pastor at Journey Covenant Church, Redondo Beach, California and Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Ken Cromeenes, Pastor of Administration 1980s to 2000s. John H. Reed, associate pastor 1986 to 1996, former Army Chaplain.US Army The Engineer, March 1973, Vol. 6, page 15bethelatwar.org, John H. Reed Tim Thompson, associate pastor (May 2002 – October 2008) and founder of The Church Works.Rev. Tim Thompson, web siteNotre Dame de Namur University, VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2, MAGAZINE, page 13 Spring 2006]