History of First Congregational Church of Redwood City

History of First Congregational Church

Oldest Protestant Church in San Mateo County

A Minister and his wife, Rev. and Mrs. J.S. Zelie, and ten other people met in a second floor room of the Redwood City courthouse and founded the church on November 2, 1862. The city had a population of about 250 people at that time. In 1863, they bought a lot at the corner of Middlefield and Jefferson roads; t hat site would be used for 90 years. The church was incorporated as First Congregational Church of Redwood City in 1891.

The congregation moved into a new yellow brick church on the old site in 1922, but the growth of Redwood City after W.W.II meant that the building and site became inadequate. The church wisely purchased our current 3.7 acres of land at that time for $9,700.

The chapel, the first unit of the new plan, designed by Architect Kingsford Jones of Menlo Park, was dedicated on April 25, 1954. The new sanctuary and organ were dedicated on March 10, 1957.

FCCRC Missions Through the Years

In 1893, First Congregational Church bought and donated the land which eventually became the site of the Woodside Village Church.
FCCRC helped refugees from San Francisco at the time of the 1906 earthquake, although our own church building had been shaken off its foundations.
During the years from 1968 to 1972, in conjunction with the Fun-After-Fifty Club, First Congregational Church brought about Casa de Redwood, a community-sponsored, low-cost, senior citizen retirement home. The church provides the majority of members of the Board of Directors to this day.
First Congregational Church has sponsored refugees from various parts of the world.
FCCRC has provided leadership to the Northern California-Nevada Conference of the UCC and to the national organization.

Denominational Heritage

First Congregational Church is a member of the United Church of Christ denomination, a merger between the Congregational-Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Churches in 1957. Through these historic denominations, the UCC dates its origin back to the beliefs and principles of the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation and to New England where the Pilgrims and Puritans established the freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences.