The Speer Spring Congregation of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church was organized in 1830. Many of the original members had formerly attended the Chartiers Associate Presbyterian Church at Oak Spring. The Speer Spring congregation’s first building was a small brick structure erected in near the bank of Chartiers Creek where the Speer Spring Cemetery is located.

The Rev. Alexander McCahan was installed in 1831 as the first pastor of this and the Cross Roads (Chartiers Township) Associate Reformed congregations. Mr. McCahan was born and educated in Northern Ireland and before coming here had been pastor at Chambersburg and Concord, Pa. He severed his connection with Cross Roads in 1837 but remained the pastor of the Speer Spring congregation for six more years, at which time he accepted a call to Indiana County, Pa. After retirement, Mr. McCahan returned to Canonsburg and made his home with his brother’s family.

One history of this congregation states that in the first six years of session minutes, there was scarcely one meeting "at which there were not cases of discipline, suspension, expulsion, confession of faults, of unruly tongues, of breaking most of the commandments by some weak member. These were heard and admonished with public report being made from the pulpit of each case censured."

Speer Spring Church from the South. The photographer was standing where the I-79 interchange is now located.

The Rev. Thomas Callahan was installed in 1844 as the second pastor of the congregation. He was born in Peters Township and was a brother of General William Callahan of Canonsburg. He resigned four years later and became an army chaplain.

After a vacancy of two years, the Rev. William Wallace was called (1850). He had been born at Noblestown, Pennsylvania and was a graduate of Washington College and the Associate Reformed Seminary at Allegheny. He had served as pastor for only four months when he contracted typhoid fever and died.

The next pastor was the Rev. David Paul, who was called in 1853. A native of Belmont County, Ohio, this was his first charge, and he remained only two years. Mr. Paul was a scholarly man noted for his powerful sermons. His later attainments included moderator of the General Assembly. For many years he was a director of the Allegheny Seminary, and he served as president of Muskingum College from 1865 to 1870.

William Hume Andrew became the fifth pastor in 1857. Born in Xenia, Ohio, he graduated from Franklin College and Canonsburg Seminary and had been ordained by the Associate Presbytery in 1848.

Six years later he transferred to the Associate Reformed Church and was the pastor here in 1858, when the Associate and Associate Reformed churches joined to form the United Presbyterian Church of North America.

Outspoken, fiery abolitionist John Wallace Bain was the next pastor. A graduate of Westminster College and Xenia Seminary, he came to Canonsburg in 1861. During his six-year stay there was never a moment’s doubt concerning his utter disdain for pro-slavery adherents. In 1865, the congregation was incorporated as the United Presbyterian Church at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

James Gillespie Carson succeeded the Reverend Mr. Bain in 1867. He was a son of the Rev. David Carson, who, in 1834, had become a professor in the Canonsburg Seminary. Both James G. and his brother, David W. Carson, attended Jefferson College and the Associate Theological Seminary here.

When the Carsons had moved to Canonsburg from Tennessee, Mrs. Carson’s family, the Gillespies, came with them. The Gillespie family brought two emancipated slaves with them to Canonsburg. From these two former slaves came the black Gillespie and Caldwell families — highly respected citizens and members of this congregation for many years.

James Gillespie Carson stayed only two years as pastor of the Canonsburg congregation. He left here to accept a charge in Xenia, Ohio and an appointment as a professor in the Xenia Theological Seminary. During his pastorate, a Sabbath School was instituted and interesting benevolent commitments were made: to the rebuilding of San Francisco and to the Anti-Secret Society.

The Reverend William Weir became the eighth pastor of this congregation in 1870 and served here for three years. He was the author of a serial novel published in the Canonsburg Herald newspaper entitled "A Fair Sample: A Romance of Old Jefferson."

John Stuart Speer, born in Ohio, had been a captain in the Union Army. After the war, he attended Allegheny Seminary and came to Canonsburg as pastor. It was during his pastorate that the church building on Greenside Avenue was erected on a lot that for many years had been a tanyard where leather was tanned.

Rev. Speer was active in both the planning and the construction of the new house of worship. Miss Jeanette Dickson in her 100th Anniversary history of this church states: "In memory I can plainly see the glossy black horse owned by Reverend Speer and driven by his son Henry, as the scoop shovel scattered the ground for the foundation of this edifice." In 1885 the last communion service was held at the old Bridge Church.

Above, Rev. John Speer, constructor, and the Greenside Church, under construction.
Mothers' Club of Canonsburg U.P. Church (Greenside), Summer 1911. Click on the picture for an enlargement and the names.

After sixteen years, Mr. Speer retired as pastor (1890) but remained in Canonsburg and engaged in the banking business. His residence was the large, handsome, Victorian house on Vine Street, which he built early in his pastorate.

The next pastor was David Rentoul McDonald. Scottish by birth, he was a graduate of Westminster College and Allegheny Seminary. Mr. McDonald served as pastor of this congregation from 1891 to 1900, at which time he resigned to assume a faculty position at Grove City College. During David McDonald’s pastorate, the church building debt was retired and the congregation was the recipient of Andrew Carnegie’s munificence in the form of a grant to install a Vocalion organ in the sanctuary.

Above, from left, the Revs. Alexander McCahon, David R. McDonald, James H. Grier, and Charles D. Fulton.

Rev. Charles Dent Fulton was installed as pastor in 1901 and served for the next twelve years. During Mr. Fulton’s pastorate, the Vocalion was replaced by a pipe organ, the congregation purchased a parsonage on West College Street, and a mission Sabbath School was started in East Canonsburg. The mission Sabbath School was organized in 1905 in the old Cecil Township School House in East Canonsburg.

James H. Grier succeeded Mr. Fulton in 1914 and occupied the pulpit during World War I, except for a six months’ leave of absence to serve with the army YMCA overseas. He resigned to accept a faculty position in the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. During James H. Grier’s pastorate the congregation built a Chapel on Euclid Avenue to house the Mission Sabbath School and dedicated it in 1918. Miss Kate Gladden was the first regular employed worker. An addition to the church was also dedicated in 1918. Its primary purpose was Christian education, and the 22 new classrooms were badly needed by a Sunday School that had an enrollment approaching 700.

The East Canonsburg Chapel on Euclid Avenue, dedicated January 13, 1918, provided better facilities than the old Cecil Township schoolhouse where the Greenside Church had instituted Sunday School in 1905. The photographs were taken during Vacation Bible School in the 1930s, when Dora B. McNary had charge of the youngsters. Rev Hume is toward the right side of the lower right photograph. The chapel also served adults, and A. M. Mason is remembered reading the Bible in Syrian on Sunday afternoons.  Click individual picture for enlarged view

In December 1922, the congregation voted to call Rev. H. Ross Hume as pastor. He had served overseas as a chaplain, and the tall, kind, soft-spoken man in his World War I uniform marched proudly in the Armistice Day parades in Canonsburg. Both the centennial celebration of the church and the 25^th anniversary of the East Canonsburg Chapel were celebrated in 1930 during Dr. Hume’s pastorate.

Rev. Hume died in 1956 after 33 years of faithful service in the congregation and the community that he deeply loved. The East Canonsburg Chapel, under the care of Mrs. J. M. Heagen for so many years, continued its good work with a Sabbath School, morning worship service, and evening young people’s meetings.

The Reverend Paul R. Graham was called as pastor and installed in 1957. At this time, the church roll showed 700 communicants and the morning service was being broadcast over the local radio station WCNG. After a pastorate of nine years, Mr. Graham resigned and the following year the congregation voted to call the Rev. Thomas Franklin Conboy, Jr.

In June 1966, the session voted to discontinue the use of the East End Chapel and provide bus transportation for the members of the chapel to a consolidated service at Greenside Avenue.

Far left, a view of the Greenside Church sanctuary at Easter.   Near left, top, the Rev. H. Ross Hume, bottom, Thomas F. Conboy.