About

It is passing strange that the Military Arsenal which put Dearborn on the map and the First Presbyterian Church of Dearborn which was located on that map should have started almost simultaneously in the 1830's. One symbolizes humankind's volatile tendency to war and conflict while the other highlights the human quest for peace and wholeness. Yet the two movements, warfare and religion, are often juxtaposed on the larger historical stage just as they were on the smaller stage known in those days as Pekin or Dearbornville. The Military Arsenal was authorized by Congress in 1833 with construction beginning the next year. Final completion came in 1839. In 1834 the First Presbyterian Church of Dearborn was organized. Since church is at once pilgrimage and process, that story of building is never complete.

Setting these events in time and place is not easy since people were more involved in living and doing than they were in writing and recording. Much happened about which we do not know. But this we know, in the last two decades of the eighteenth century two French families, by name Dumais and Cissne, settled along the Rouge River in what is now Dearborn. It was not until the opening of the Erie Canal, around 1825 however, that the trickle of settlers into southern Michigan became a small stream. Native Americans, the Powatomi and other Indians who had previously inhabited the region now moved westward. They were replaced by settlers whom they had earlier probably welcomed and assisted.

In the early nineteenth century in 1806 land on the Rouge River was set aside by the Federal Government as a military reservation. Nothing was done with that land until 1832 when it had passed into the hands of the Department of War. Since Henry Dearborn was Secretary of War under Jefferson when the large tract of land was first set aside his name eventually attached to the region. Construction on the Arsenal, a depository for weapons and ammunition, began in 1833 and was largely complete by 1837 although the last building, an Ammunition Depot, was not finished until 1839.

The church continues to be in the world but not of the world. Members are involved and busy in community leadership with volunteer effort seen as a fulfillment of Christian calling. Study and discussion help people to discern the will and purpose of God.

While the names of many have been reviewed in this document, still there are many nameless. The lead actor in this drama of First Presbyterian Church of Dearborn has been and still is God himself. But for his grace, nothing could endure. The Chief Minister of the church remains Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

The First Presbyterian Church of Dearborn reaches the 150th milestone grateful for a past in which God has been faithful and ready for the future in which that same faithfulness is assured. This church, so blessed looks forward to the future as a time not of dread but of promise. Today's Christians at First Presbyterian Church of Dearborn, are now themselves, not just spectators to history but are the makers of history, gathered in one congregation rejoicing to be coworkers with God in a future as bright as the divine promise. To God alone be the glory.