Did you know that many of the names that helped make Bloomsburg the town it is today, are also the names that helped to establish our Church home? Did you know that the first pastor elected to serve the congregation, by the congregation was the Reverend Samuel Henderson? It is said that Pastor Henderson wielded a hammer and was instrumental to the construction of the initial structure for our church.

Following Reverend Henderson's tenure, the church was served by itinerant pastors (one of which, Rev. Samuel Crosby, 1831, established the first Sunday School) until the summer of 1838 when David J. Waller preached for the congregation. The spontaneous gathering of the venerable and substantial looking men as he left the high pulpit in our old wooden church quite won his heart and the call to this Church (plus Berwick, Hidlay and Fishing Creek missions). Twenty-one years after the founding of the church, Reverend Waller was installed. In 1844 Reverend Waller was relieved from charge of the outside missions to become full time pastor in Bloomsburg. Well known for his hospitality, his home became the stopping place for all sorts and conditions of people. When a local innkeeper put up a new sign on his place of business, a prankster hung the old one over Mr. Waller's house. It is said of Reverend Waller "the pastor held on his way bravely amidst discouragements of a formidable character conquering obstacles which to many a man would have been insurmountable, and lifting the Church and the community up to the scale of mental, moral and religious development as few men could have done. Mr. Waller proved himself to be the right man in the right place."

In 1888 Reverend Isaac M. Patterson received the unanimous call from the congregation and became the first pastor to serve the church as we know it today. Reverend Patterson's keen interest in the spiritual welfare of his charge, coupled with his forceful preaching of the Gospel and sympathetic pastoral relations, proved a valuable factor in sustaining the activities of the congregation.

In 1897, the call to pastorate was given to Reverend George Henry Hemingway. It is said of Reverend Hemingway that "he came to this parish with a well grounded experience, a robust young manhood, and that English tenacity that fitted him for the pastorate of a divided congregation". During the first three years of Reverend Hemingway's tenure, the Church received eighty-five persons on profession of their faith. At the 100th year mark, the membership was 518, nearly twice the population of Bloomsburg when services were first established. That same year Sunday School enrollment was recorded at 290. Where did they all fit?!

The address given for the laying of the cornerstone of the (old) Christian Education building was presented by Dr. D.J. Waller Jr.

In 1946, the Reverend G. Douglas Davies was duly installed as the eighth pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Bloomsburg.

These are just a few of the names of the more than 25 men who have served First Church as pastor and leader. Each of these men had a

congregation that ministered to the needs of the community and the Church family, and made the pastor's job bearable. These same names were instrumental in the growth and development of the town of Bloomsburg. One can hardly imagine what Bloomsburg might have become had First Church not existed and these men never came to this town.

In 2003, the Reverend Dr. Steve Cureton was installed as Pastor of First Presbyterian Church Bloomsburg. And now, it is our turn as ministers of the congregation and our community to make certain that the work of our Lord and Savior continues to be available to any person at any time in the town of Bloomsburg.