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Bonhomme Presbyterian Church

(ECO) Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians

Genealogical Data

The following indexes and/or records from this congregation are available:

Members and Vital Records, 1838–1890

Members, 1816–1828

History

Established: 1816; still open in 2016

This is the oldest Presbyterian church in the St. Louis area. The Reverend Salmon Giddings founded the Bonhomme Presbyterian Church in October 1816. It was the second Presbyterian church he founded in the Missouri territory.

In 1841, the congregation built a stone church on Conway Road. The church closed during the turmoil of the Civil War. The small congregation struggled to grow and membership dropped by the mid-1950s. In addition, the old building was beginning to deteriorate.

Spurred by the growth in the West County area, the church again began to grow and the congregation decided to build a new church a short distance away. The church received a bequest from Miss Annie Yokel after she died in 1956, which helped provide funds for the growing congregation to establish a new church building. They purchased land located 0.7 miles west of the old church on Conway Road.

The congregation added a larger church sanctuary in 1967 adjacent to their older building. The National Register of Historic Sites added this church and cemetery to its register in 1972. In 1987, the congregation completed a major upgrade and added an educational wing and gymnasium.

Bonhomme Presbyterian new sanctuary 14820 Conway Rd.
Photo © 2011 Donald A. Wallace (Used with permission)

Old Bonhomme Presbyterian 14483 Conway Rd.
Photo © 2012 Donald A. Wallace (Used with permission)

In October 2014, the members voted to disaffiliate with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and chose to join the more conservative Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO).

Address: 14820 Conway Road, Chesterfield, Missouri 63017

Telephone: 636-532-3486

Website: http://bonpres.org/

1841–1958: 14483 Conway Road, Chesterfield, Missouri 63017
GPS (Latitude, Longitude): 38.649305, -90.53648 View Map

1959–Present (2016): 14820 Conway Road, Chesterfield, Missouri 63017
GPS (Latitude, Longitude): 38.649537, -90.52402 View Map

In 1841, the congregation established a cemetery on land donated by Joseph Conway. The last burial took place in 1973 for the re-interment of Rev. Salmon Giddings, first minister of Bonhomme Church. The church has since established a Memorial Garden area on the church grounds for members to place cremains of family members.

Information about early burials is included in the Old Bonhomme Presbyterian Cemetery and Conway Cemetery.

Access to Old Bonhomme Presbyterian Cemetery

Access to Conway Cemetery

Last Modified: 11-Jan-2022 10:39