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More than 170 years ago, Lewis Hawkins Davis, a native of Vermont, and his wife, Susan (Clinger) Davis, settled on a hill 3 miles west of Chehalis known as Claquato in 1853 with their family of five sons and two daughters and built a double-log cabin.
It was inside this cabin where settlers first gathered with Rev. George Frederick Whitworth to praise God on Oct. 6, 1855, and formed what became Westminster Presbyterian Church, part of the new Presbytery of Oregon. Rev. Whitworth, who traveled from Olympia carrying a Bible and a gun, preached to settlers once every two weeks, later alternating with Rev. Jotham Weeks Goodell, a father of 11. Families in attendance included the Stearns, Davises, Judsons, Whites, Gateses, Axells and Goodells.
The outbreak of the Indian Wars of 1855 prompted the Davis family to join their neighbors in seeking shelter at Claquato Fort, a 100-square-foot stockade with blockhouses at two corners.
When threats of an uprising subsided, the Davises returned to their cabin, and in 1857, Lewis built a sawmill powered by a waterwheel. With lumber produced the following year, he and his brother-in-law John Clinger constructed a small white church on a hill where Presbyterians, Methodists, and others gathered for worship on Sundays. During the week, the building served as a school, the Claquato Academy.
Last summer headlines blared the news that Lewis County commissioners decided to sell the historic church — the oldest Protestant church in Washington still standing with original pews, pulpit, wooden spires encircling the belfry known as a crown of thorns, and a bronze bell shipped around Cape Horn from Boston. Putting a rich piece of local history that the county had owned since 1959 on the auction block surprised many people, but they apparently had a plan.
In early August, Lewis County Manager Ryan Barrett opened the only bid received for the church — a $5,000 bid from the Claquato Cemetery Board, which submitted a detailed plan for preservation of the 1858 church. A child who died in 1856 was the first person buried in the nearby cemetery with a huge pioneer tree.
Although commissioners accepted the bid, the transfer of ownership hasn’t been finalized yet. The county asked the cemetery board to complete a Phase 1 environmental study before finalizing the transfer.
Lacie Jendryka, cemetery manager, said a study has been completed, but they’re waiting for ownership to transfer before proceeding.
Meanwhile, Westminster Presbyterian Church is preparing to celebrate its 170th anniversary on Sunday with a reception downstairs after the 10 a.m. service.
“The church up on the hill, Claquato Church, was our church,” said Jean Bluhm, historian at the Westminster Presbyterian Church and a church member for 70 years. “We started in the cabin of Lewis Davis, and then with his first lumber, he built that church for us, but he also allowed other denominations to be there. They built it for us to get us out of their cabin.”
Henry Stearns served as the first Sunday School superintendent and clerk of the Presbyterians who met at the small church. After the death of the second Presbyterian minister, Rev. Jotham Weeks Goodell, Davis deeded the church to the Methodist Episcopal Church, which had a larger congregation.
For the next 18 years, the Presbyterians met in the home of Henry Stearns, who led the congregation in songs and read chapters from the Bible. They held baptisms, funerals and weddings. They also hosted guest ministers, including Rev. A. Burbee. By 1872, the church with a membership of 16 was registered with the Presbytery of Oregon, Synod of the Pacific. Five years later, 50 people met in the Stearns’ home with Rev. John R. Thompson to reorganize and incorporate the Chehalis Presbyterian Church on April 2, 1878. They later met at a Quincy Avenue schoolhouse in Chehalis.
Under the leadership of Rev. Telesphore Brouillette, a Montreal native who took over in 1880, the congregation met again at Claquato Church until constructing a church at the corner of State and Prindle in Chehalis. He donated the lot and money for its construction, which was completed by July 1882 at a cost of $2,250, including the organ. Brouillette served 17 nearby churches and earned $800 a year.
The congregation adopted the name Westminster Presbyterian Church when it incorporated on May 25, 1899. William Urquhart paid $150 to Chehalis founder Eliza Saunders to purchase four lots on Market Street. Construction of a new manse for Rev. Joseph R. Monfort was completed in January 1904 at a cost of $2,007.98.
Then the congregation mortgaged its lots to hire architect Albert Doyle of Portland and contractor Raymond Schwartz to design and build a 48- by 30-foot church seating 300 at present-day Market and Prindle. Construction began on Oct. 6, 1906, half a century after the church’s founding. The new building was dedicated on Feb. 16, 1908, under the leadership of Rev. Donald McKenzie.
Two stained glass windows from the State Street church, preserved by Robert and Florence Kennicott, adorn the Westminster church today.
Bluhm, who is 91, has devoted decades to preserving the church’s rich legacy, creating displays of photos and placards explaining what’s available in the history room. She’s written several church histories, updating each to commemorate the 39 pastors who have guided the congregation.
She and her husband, Mel, 93, along with his brother, Virgil Bluhm, were among the octogenarians who built the Pioneer Church at Borst Park in Centralia. She spearheaded fundraising efforts, created a nonprofit, and recruited people and businesses to erect the 24- by 40-foot white church.
The 170th anniversary commemoration will be smaller than those in the past. After the 10 a.m. communion service on Oct. 5, the congregation will gather downstairs for a reception with a PowerPoint presentation about the church’s history.
Former ministers have been invited, and people who have attended the church or its preschool, which was started in 1966, are invited to share memories. The reception is open to the public. Food and beverages will be served.
“Our church is really known for its music — the pipe organ and the pianist and the bells,” said Bluhm, who retired after teaching 30 years and portrays Centralia pioneer Mary Borst in skits throughout the community. Among those helping Bluhm organize the commemoration are Carol Days, Jan Stites, Jan Snider, and Jenny Kirk.
The history room carefully curated by Bluhm features the Stearns family Bible, an 1886 pump organ, historic photos, paintings on an art wall, framed newspaper clippings, placards sharing the story of the church’s first 170 years, a 1932 child’s prayer book, binders of information, photographs of former pastors, and so much more.
Westminster Presbyterian Church, which has a deep history in Lewis County, is blessed to have Jean Bluhm, a dedicated volunteer who has preserved that rich legacy for generations to enjoy.
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.
