County of site: Washington County
Location of site: W. Breton St., Potosi
Cemetery established 1833
Church built 1832-33
Number of grave 422
"The Presbyterian Church in Potosi was constructed in 1833 as a rectangular brick structure with a vaulted ceiling.
The steeple has been removed, but the slave balcony remains. The building was used as a church until 1908; it
now serves as a meeting place for civic organizations. Moses Austin, founder of Potosi, is buried in the adjacent
churchyard cemetery. The Church has a stepped down gable, round arch doorways with fan light transoms, and side
windows of simple sash design." ~ Missouri Office of Historic Preservation, PDF page 519
"The old Presbyterian Church building on Breton Street here in Potosi is Potosi’s oldest public building -- and the oldest Presbyterian church building still standing west of the Mississippi River.
"The Potosi Presbyterian congregation was organized in the spring of 1832 by five members under the leadership of Rev. John Cowan, pioneer Presbyterian organizer in Missouri.
"This present building saw the start of construction in the fall of 1832, and it was completed in the spring of 1833.
"This building housed Presbyterian worship services from 1833 to 1907, when the congregation moved to the “New Presbyterian Church”, the stone building on Breton Street, a block east of here.
"CHURCH YEARS IN THIS BUILDING:
"The Potosi Presbyterian Church has maintained all its church minutes since the organization of the church, and they tell a fascinating story of this church, and of religious history, here in Potosi.
"For instance, the minutes show in one of the early years a lady member of the congregation was “called on the carpet” and chastised by the congregation for the “sin” of “PLAYING CROQUET ON SUNDAY”.
"This church was also the scene of early PRESBYTERY, of District, meetings of the Presbyterian faith in Missouri. At a meeting here in this building in the 1850’s, the POTOSI PRESBYTERY passed a motion to establish a Presbyterian college in Missouri -- an act that led to the organization of the present Westminster College in Fulton.
"Although the congregation was not integrated (blacks were not admitted as members of the church in the early years), black people were permitted to attend services -- as slaves with their masters, or as Free Blacks -- in a practice common with other churches of the period, and blacks were married by the early white Protestant ministers.
"The balcony at the rear of the church is often called a SLAVE GALLERY. Although research does not indicate this exactly, it is believed that blacks were seated here for services. One young black man who probably attended services from here was later to become nationally famous. JOHN ANDERSON LANKFORD was born here in Potosi in 1873, to parents who had been slaves here. MRS. ANNIE COLE BUGG -- the mother of Mrs. Mary B. Eversole -- organized a religious education class for young blacks, one of whom was John Anderson Lankford. Mrs. Bugg and other members of the Presbyterian congregation realized the talents of the young man and were evidently instrumental in seeing that he advanced to higher education, giving assistance that saw him go to Lincoln University in Jefferson City -- Missouri’s first black state college. Lankford then went on to the pioneer black college, Tuskegee Institute, in Alabama, where he was a graduate of Tuskegee’s first architectural class, in 1891 or 1892. Lankford later taught at black colleges in Atlanta and in North Carolina, and by 1902 had established an architectural practice in Washington, D.C. In 1906, when the Presbyterians were planning their new church building, Lankford returned to Potosi, and, in appreciation for support given him by the congregation, designed the present “new Presbyterian Church” and supplied all the plans -- free of charge. Lankford died in Washington in 1946, and at the time of his death was regarded as the “Dean of American Negro Architects”. ~ paranormaltaskforce.com