From the church's web
site:
"By 1782 German immigrant farmers and merchants and their families
were settling in Pittsburgh, then a small frontier hamlet of about
thirty-five houses, most of them made of logs. In fact, many of the
250-some residents were German. They were a people with a firm
belief in God, and the words of the Psalms celebrated in Martin
Luther's great hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God were their
declaration of faith. Wanting a place to worship, they established
the first church in the town that year. Forty-two men were listed
on the membership roll – women not being voting members. The church
was not connected with any denomination, and its roster included
Lutherans, Reformed members, and people not affiliated with any
group. It was a church that welcomed diversity of opinion, valued
religious freedom, and respected the right of individual conviction
and personal conscience – quite a remarkable stand for a church in
that day.
Being organized and having a rented log cabin in which to
worship was only a start. They needed a minister. And so in that
same year they extended an official "call" to the Rev. Johann
Wilhelm Weber, thus becoming the first organized church in
Allegheny County and the earliest German congregation west of the
Allegheny Mountains. Weber was a perfect match for this fledgling
church. He'd been forced to leave a previous parish near
Philadelphia because he was "too political," and he firmly
supported the War for Independence. In 1783, the congregation built
a one-room log meetinghouse, often referred to as a "blockhouse,"
on Diamond Alley and Wood Street. (Diamond Alley is now Forbes
Avenue, and in the 1700s the intersection was much closer to the
Point than it is today.)
From the time of the church's organization, there was a divide
between Germans of the Lutheran tradition and those of the Reformed
tradition. The two groups coexisted, however, generally holding
separate services in the log church and having separate officers,
but mostly sharing the same pastor. In 1787 John Penn, Sr., and
John Penn, Jr. (the grandson and great-grandson of William Penn),
in order "to promote morality, piety and religion," granted to the
two congregations a 240' x 110' plot of land along Smithfield
Street between Sixth Avenue and Strawberry Way. It was large enough
for a meetinghouse, a parsonage, and a cemetery but had one serious
drawback. It was "too far out of town."
It was not until 1791 or 1792 that they built on this property
their second church, adding a cemetery and manse in later years.
Succeeding congregations have owned the land continuously. (Since
1924 the portion of the property not used by the church building
has been leased.)
After much to-ing and fro-ing over the years, the congregations
finally became one in 1812, identifying themselves as the German
Evangelical Protestant Church and reasserting their commitment to
freedom of conviction and the right of personal interpretation. In
1815 the original building at Smithfield and Sixth was replaced by
the much larger third church that seated 200 on the main floor,
with a gallery seating 20.
A fourth church was constructed in 1833 and included school
rooms and a second floor sanctuary, and the fifth – with its
218-foot tower – was built in 1875-77, both at the corner of
Smithfield and Sixth Avenue.
Construction of the sixth building, this time at the corner of
Smithfield and Strawberry Way, began in 1925, with consecration in
December 1926, and an "official opening" on the congregation's
145th anniversary in October 1927. This building – known today as
Smithfield United Church of Christ or, just as often, Smithfield
Church – is readily identifiable by its unique steeple, visible
from countless vantage points in downtown Pittsburgh. It is the
fifth at the Smithfield location, the sixth official place of
worship overall."