Old Scotch Church

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Old Scotch Church
Old Scotch Church autumn - Hillsboro Oregon.jpg
Eight-sided steeple of the Old Scotch Church
Hillsboro Beaverton Oregon - OpenStreetMap.png
Red pog.svg
LocationScotch Church Rd., Washington County, Oregon, near Hillsboro, Oregon
Coordinates 45°34′22″N122°59′39″W / 45.57278°N 122.99417°W / 45.57278; -122.99417 Coordinates: 45°34′22″N122°59′39″W / 45.57278°N 122.99417°W / 45.57278; -122.99417
Built1878
Architectural style Carpenter Gothic
NRHP reference No. 74001723 [1]
Added to NRHPNovember 5, 1974

The Old Scotch Church, also known as the Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church, is a church and national historic site located in an unincorporated part of Washington County, Oregon, near Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. The church dates to 1873 while the church structure with an eight-sided steeple dates to 1878. A cemetery on the church grounds holds the graves of church members and local pioneer settlers of the Tualatin Plains, including Joseph Meek.

Contents

Organization

The Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church was organized in 1873 with the first service on November 16. [2] This first service was held at the four-room Columbia Academy schoolhouse with the Reverend George Ross as pastor, four miles (6 km) northwest of the present site. [2] Services were held at the academy until a permanent site for construction of a house of worship could be located by the congregation. [2]

These first members of the congregation came primarily from the same area in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, which is located west of Aberdeen. [2] In Scotland, they had been members of the Free Church of Scotland. [2] After immigrating to the United States and traveling to Oregon, they settled near each other in the Tualatin Valley. [2] Because of the settlers' Scottish origin, their church building acquired its common name "The Old Scotch Church." [2] The twelve original Scottish pioneers were: Mr. and Mrs. William Chalmers and their 11 children, their youngest Catherine was the first buried there. Mr. and Mrs. James Smith, Rev. and Mrs. George Ross, Mr. and Mrs. George Alexander, their daughter Eliza, Miss Alexander and John Milne. [2] Eight of the twelve founders and many of their descendants are buried in the cemetery surrounding the church. [2] T

Structure

In 1876, one acre (4,000 m2) of land was donated to the church by Jacob Hoover to provide a place for a permanent church building and cemetery. [3] On March 11, 1878, the church board began the process of building a permanent building by authorizing an estimate to determine the costs of building a church structure. [2] An estimate of $2120 was completed for a Carpenter Gothic-style building in early 1878. [2] The architect for the structure was Mr. Balantyne. [4] His design included buttresses, stained glass windows, a steep roof, and the signature eight-sided steeple. [2] Construction commenced with much of the material and labor being donated by the congregation. [4] The stained glass windows in the building were imported from Scotland. [4] The church building, adjacent to McKay Creek, was completed in 1878 and dedicated that same year. [2] A church bell was added in 1926 to the steeple. [2]

Expansions

In 1905, the church was expanded when an annex was built onto the back of the building, adding additional classrooms for Sunday school. [2] Then in 1940 the annex was expanded and a half-basement added, followed by a second addition in 1955 that included the first indoor restrooms at the church. [2] From 1959 to 1960 the building was raised, allowing for a full basement to by completed. [2] In 1984 construction was completed that added four classrooms to the church structure . [2]

Cemetery

Many pioneers of the Oregon Country are also buried in the cemetery. [2] Joseph Meek is one of the best known of those buried at the Old Scotch Church. [2] Meek died on June 20, 1875, and was originally buried at his homestead, located near a historic marker dedicated to him along the Sunset Highway. [3] Meek was a mountain man, a member of Oregon's Provisional Government, and the first U.S. Marshall of the Oregon Territory. [2] After his land was sold, his remains were moved and re-interred at the church's cemetery. [2] The cemetery also contains a cairn added in 1985 as a memorial to ancestors in Scotland who were massacred at Glen Coe in 1692. [5]

Currently

This structure is one of the oldest continuously used churches in the state. [2] The church was the 13th historical site in Washington County, Oregon, to be honored. [2] On November 5, 1974, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Old Scotch Church. [6] The Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church still holds services in the Old Scotch Church building every Sunday. [2]

Related Research Articles

Joseph Meek

Joseph Lafayette "Joe" Meek was a pioneer, mountain man, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A trapper involved in the fur trade before settling in the Tualatin Valley, Meek played a prominent role at the Champoeg Meetings of 1843, where he was elected a sheriff. He was later elected to and served in the Provisional Legislature of Oregon before being appointed as the United States Marshal for the Oregon Territory.

Old Ship Church United States historic place

The Old Ship Church is a Puritan church built in 1681 in Hingham, Massachusetts. It is the only surviving 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in America. Its congregation, gathered in 1635 and officially known as First Parish in Hingham, occupies the oldest church building in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States. On October 9, 1960, it was designated a National Historic Landmark and on November 15, 1966, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Hillsboro Pioneer Cemetery

The Hillsboro Pioneer Cemetery is a pioneer cemetery in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. It is located at the west end of the city along the Tualatin Valley Highway and adjacent to Dairy Creek. The 8.42-acre (3.41 ha) cemetery comprises three formerly private cemeteries. In 1973, the city of Hillsboro gained title to what is the oldest cemetery in Washington County.

John Smith Griffin

John Smith Griffin (1807–1899) was an American missionary in Oregon Country who participated at the Champoeg Meetings that created the Provisional Government of Oregon in 1843. In Oregon he served as a tutor at Fort Vancouver and later organized a church on the Tualatin Plains in the Tualatin Valley.

George W. Ebbert

George Wood "Squire" Ebbert (1810–1890) was a mountain man and early settler in the Oregon Country. Born in Kentucky, he settled on the Tualatin Plains in what would become Oregon and participated in the Champoeg Meetings that created a government prior to the formation of the Oregon Territory. During the Cayuse War he traveled with Joseph Meek across the Rocky Mountains to ask Congress for assistance with the war.

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Tualatin Plains Region in Oregon, United States

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Farmington, Oregon Unincorporated community in Oregon, United States

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White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church United States historic place

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The Old Scots Burying Ground is located in the Wickatunk section of Marlboro Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The cemetery rise is on Gordon's Corner Road, just west of Wyncrest Road. The cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Old Scots Burying Ground is about an acre in size, about 195 feet above sea level and dates back to 1685. The total number of burials at the cemetery is not precisely known, suggested by Symms, "There are a large number of graves in Old Scots yard without any inscribed stones". Some reports place the number as at least 100 known graves with most headstones of brown sandstone. However, more recent research using ground penetrating radar reported by the Old Tennent Church in 2001 has put the number of confirmed sites at about 122 graves with a possible 140 more unmarked; placing the number at about 262 total graves in the cemetery. In 1945, in an attempt to clean out the site of vegetation and over-growth, a bulldozer was used on the property and as a result some headstones were dislodged and broken stones removed. The defining structure in the cemetery is a tall monument to Rev. John Boyd, created by the J&R Lamb Company. Built to commemorate the first recorded Presbyterian ordination of Rev. John Boyd. The monument is currently owned by the Synod of the Northeast who holds the property deed but it is maintained by the Old Tennent Church. The last identified burial at Old Scots Burial Ground was in 1977.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 History of the Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church. Old Scotch Church. Retrieved on February 6, 2008.
  3. 1 2 Oregon Historic Photographs Collections: Gravestone of mountainman Joseph L. Meek at Old Scotch Church. Salem Public Library. Retrieved on February 6, 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 Historic names mark old gravestones. Hillsboro Argus , October 19, 1976.
  5. Gordanier, Susan (February 16, 2010). "Pipes, plaids, stones and tales enrich local ritual". The Hillsboro Argus . p. A1. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  6. "Oregon National Register List" (PDF). Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. June 6, 2011. p. 48. Retrieved December 28, 2012.