Historic congregation dates to log cabin schoolhouse in 1851
Story by Roger P. Healy and Hannah Frances Johansson
Art By Tim Robbibaro
Demolition crews could start removing the fire-gutted former Grandview United Presbyterian Church in Mount Washington on Wednesday, a city spokeswoman told NewsWorks Lab.
Since the July 7 fire that destroyed the historic church, Grandview Avenue and the nearby Mount Washington branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh remain closed. Fallen bricks still litter the street.
Whenever the demolition takes place, it will remove a historic site that overlooked the city for 175 years.
“No one wanted to see this be the final sentence in the history of Grandview church,” said the Rev. Jessica McClure Archer, general minister of Pittsburgh Presbytery, which assists and supports local congregations.
The city issued a notice to demolish the building by July 20, but the removal company, Schaaf Excavating Contractors, wanted to demolish the building at night, city spokeswoman Molly Onufer said.
“The city denied the request due to safety and noise concerns,” she added, “and asked them to resubmit for daytime demolition.”
Schaaf resubmitted its proposal, which the city accepted on Aug. 11. Onufer said Schaaf could start the demo on Wednesday.
An official at Schaaf, communicating through text, said the company was still waiting for a final go-ahead from the Allegheny County Health Department following an asbestos survey. The agency’s spokesman could not be reached for comment.
Even before the fire, the church had been sitting empty. Pittsburgh Presbytery had determined the 169-year-old church had outlived its useful life, Archer said. With only ten regular parishioners, building maintenance and the basic requirements of any church had become impossible, she added.
The congregation at Grandview officially dissolved on Dec. 31, 2022, and Pittsburgh Presbytery assumed ownership of the building, Archer said. The Presbytery will pay for the demolition, which Archer said she expects will cost “well over $150,000.”
Greg Barton and his wife, Merrie Beth, attended the church to the very end, and they dreamed of saving the structure through historic preservation, he said. Merrie Beth served as music director from 1984 to 1997.
“We attended and played music and sang together there,” Greg Barton said. “We wanted to revitalize the church. … It could have been one of the most visible Presbyterian churches.”
Church history
When the last parishioner turned off the lights behind Grandview United Presbyterian’s iconic glass-block cross that shone over Grandview Avenue, they did so with a sense of history that dates to a log cabin schoolhouse in 1851.
Grandview Presbyterian’s story began when English immigrant and entrepreneur Sturley Cuthbert established a Sunday School on Mount Washington, which was still known as Coal Hill back then, according to a church program from its centennial anniversary celebration in 1957.
The school grew quickly, and its leadership recognized the need for a church. Cuthbert and 23 others founded Mount Washington Presbyterian Church in 1857, and they installed their first pastor the Rev. John Y. McCartney the following year. They opened their first church building the year after that.
The church also grew quickly, and its parishioners erected another wooden building in 1891. They paid $1,200 for a pipe organ six years later, and continued to add onto the building over the decades.
By the church’s 50th anniversary in 1914, the church “was the largest and most influential congregation in the community,” according to its centennial anniversary document. Its congregation had grown to more than 1,200 members by 1918.
Parishioners added the brick exterior in 1947, and three years later, they dedicated the glass block cross in the memory of the Rev. Donald McGarrah’s son, David, who was hit and killed by a truck at age five.
Period of decline
Times change, and congregations shift.
The Rev. James B. Marshall served as pastor from 1957 to 1993. Since the mid-1990s, the congregation had not had a fulltime pastor, Archer said.
The Rev. Susan Meyer led services from 2001 until her 2016 retirement. The church did not have another pastor until it closed its doors. By then, the brick facade had started pulling away from the wood structure beneath.
Churches close for many reasons, Archer said, including dwindling participation driven by regional population loss and a national decline in church attendance.
“These congregations have been faithful to God, their members, and the community,” Archer said. “Sometimes for centuries. Completion of ministry recognizes this as faithfulness rather than failure.”
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Roger P. Healy and Tim Robbibaro are contributors to NewsWorks Lab. Hannah Frances Johansson is a NewsWorks Lab staff writer.
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