November 30, 2018—The Excelsior Springs Museum & Archives will host its second annual Christmastime Tour of Churches on Saturday, Dec. 15. This year’s tour will focus on four churches with roots in the valley that followed population growth to the western hills.
Tourgoers may board the trolley at 1 p.m. at the Museum, 101 East Broadway. Seating on the small trolley is limited, so tourgoers may also follow the trolley in their own cars to the westside churches on this year’s tour: ES First, St. Ann’s Catholic, Flack Memorial and United Methodist. Light refreshments will be served at the final stop. Tickets are $15 for the trolley and $10 for the self-driven tour.
The early citizens and entrepreneurs who built Excelsior Springs were keenly interested in ensuring that those drawn to the new mineral water resort got a little holy water sprinkled in among the amenities offered to visitors.
As rapidly as the town grew, so did the churches. The Daily Journal proudly boasted in 1913 that Excelsior Springs “has more churches of different denominations than most cities of its size: Methodist, Christian, Presbyterian, Christian Union, Baptist, Christian Science and Catholic.”
The man whom early residents called “the father of Excelsior Springs,” also founded its first church in 1881. The Rev. J.V.B. Flack was the circuit-riding preacher from Missouri City who partnered with landowner Anthony Wyman to analyze and market the mineral water, then platted the new townsite. The Flack home on Bluff Street overlooked his congregation in the new town. His church, which was built on Elizabeth Street, was replaced in the same location in the early 1900s by a new edifice that was named in his memory. The first service was held in the new church on the west side on July 20, 1986. Since the Flack congregation moved to the west side, the historic building was converted into apartments.
The Methodist congregation was organized in 1884 by the father of a future Missouri governor. Congregants built their first frame church with a bell tower on Concourse Avenue in 1886, across from the Christian Church. Land for the new church at Marietta and Excelsior streets was donated by A.E. Humphreys, an Oklahoma oilman and frequent visitor to Excelsior Springs in its early years who later was implicated in the Harding administration’s Teapot Dome scandal. The Gothic-style church, which now houses the Slightly Off-Broadway Theatre, was built in 1903 and rebuilt after a fire in 1947. The Methodists moved to their new west side church in 1992.
While there were few Catholics in Excelsior Springs in the early years, early congregants may have met at the Elms Hotel. Both Catholic and non-Catholic members of the community raised the money to build a Catholic Church to serve visitors as well as local residents. The first structure was a frame building with a tower that was built on Kansas City Avenue between 1905 and 1908. In 1917, the building underwent a Gothic Revival remodel, which included a masonry addition and a 75-foot turret. By the 1950s, the church holdings on Kansas City Avenue grew to include a rectory (dating to 1909), a house converted for use as a community center, a school (which operated from 1953-1969) and a convent for the nuns who taught at the school. The new church facility at Lynn Road and Tracy was dedicated in 1975. The former church building remains in use as the home of St. Innocent Orthodox Mission, which purchased the church building in 1994.
The Assembly of God Church was formed in Excelsior Springs in the early 1940s, pastored by the Rev. Utton P. Oney. Under the pastorship of the Rev. Zellis Miles, the first church home was completed in the mid-1940s at 317 East Excelsior Street. The congregants purchased 3.15 acres along Highway 69 in 1965, launching a building program that bore fruit in July 1977 with a new sanctuary and other facilities at Highway 69 and Schwarz Road. In August 1977, the congregation moved in, later welcoming the public to see the new facility with an open house in October of the same year. An educational wing was completed in October 1980 through the efforts of donated labor and contractors. Using the more inclusive name “ES First” under the leadership of Senior Pastor Larry Block, who has served as pastor since July 1995, the church has been active in focusing on innovative ministries to a diverse congregation.
Learn more about these historic local churches and how they have grown during the “Christmastime Tour of Churches” on Dec. 15. While the Museum closes for its annual winter break beginning Dec. 1, tickets may be purchased online at exsmo.com/museum or from any Museum volunteer. Please leave a message at 816-630-0101 to reserve a space!