Rev. Adam Lowry Rankin and Tulare’s First Church  

By David Hamilton  

 Vice Moderator, First Congregational Church of Tulare  

The First Congregational Church of Tulare (United Church of Christ) is celebrating its 150^th anniversary. The first meeting was in 1872, first pastor was called in 1873, and it was incorporated as Church of the Redeemer in 1874. In 1873, when Tulare had 25 residents, Reverend Adam Lowry (A. L.) Rankin brought his family here to start the first church in Tulare.  

The church is directly connected with the Civil War era Underground Railroad. Rev. A. L. Rankin’s father, Rev. John Rankin, and his brothers were important participants in the Underground Railroad. Their home, on a bluff in Ripley, Ohio, overlooked the Ohio River, into the slave state of Kentucky. Built in 1825, the Rankin House was home to the abolitionist and Presbyterian minister, his wife, Jean, and their 13 children, including our Rev. Adam Lowry Rankin, who was the oldest boy. It is estimated that over 2,000 slaves seeking freedom stayed with the Rankins, sometimes as many as 12 at a time. Though slavery was illegal in Ohio, slaves could still be apprehended due to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. To avoid danger, they had to leave the United States.  

The Rankin House has been preserved as a museum of the Underground Museum. When Henry Ward Beecher, brother of the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was asked after the Civil War “Who abolished slavery?” he answered, “Reverend John Rankin and his sons did.”  

Rev. A. L.  Rankin served as a Chaplain of the 113^th Regiment of the Illinois Volunteers during the American Civil War under General Grant, including the siege at Vicksburg. General Grant had attended Ripley College which was founded and run by Rev. A. L. Rankin’s father, John, in the small town of Ripley, Ohio where Rev. Rankin still lived when Grant attended. After one year at Ripley College, General Grant was appointed to West Point in 1839.  

When the Civil War ended, Rev. Rankin’s unit presented him with a ceremonial sword and scabbard engraved:

Presented to Captain A. L. Rankin, chaplain of the 113^th Regiment of the Illinois Infantry Volunteers by his comrades as a token of their love and esteem  

That sword, along with Rev. Rankin’s Bible and campaign chair, is on display at the Rankin House Museum in Ripley, Ohio.  

In 1839, the Congregational Church in Connecticut formed the abolitionist committee called the La Amistad Committee to support and defend 39 refugees kidnapped in Africa, and then imprisoned in a large slave ship. The American Missionary Association (the first anti-slavery society in the U. S. with multiracial leadership) grew out of this original committee. It was the American Missionary Association that sent Rev. A. L. Rankin to Tulare when the Southern Pacific Railroad announced that a new terminus would be built there.  

It was only six years after the Civil War when Rev. A. L. Rankin came to Tulare. It is interesting to note that General Grant, likely an acquaintance of Rev. Rankin, was President of the United States the entire time Rev. Rankin lived in Tulare.   

Rev. Rankin arrived in Tulare with his wife and four children on Saturday, January 24, 1873. Housing was limited so the family was provided a two-room adobe south of Tulare, now known as Pratt Street. On their first morning in Tulare, while preparing for services, the family discovered two snakes crossing the floor, a third under the stove, and one more in a closet.  

The first regular services were held in a 12’ by 12’ schoolhouse on Cross Street, with 15 people in attendance. The railroad arrived in 1873. When the railroad completed its depot, Mark Hopkins, the general superintendent, granted the use of the waiting room for Sunday School and church services. Workers in the depot had orders not to do any unnecessary work during church services.  

Under the leadership of Rev. A. L. Rankin, the Church of the Redeemer was formed in 1874 with a membership of 15, half of the population of Tulare. The railroad donated lots on the northwest corner of King and I streets where the first church was built.  

Rev. Rankin, “an able carpenter as well as a good pastor, labored daily with other volunteers who donated time so that the town of 30 persons might have a church.” The bell for the steeple was given by the employees of the Southern Pacific. Rev. Rankin was not only a stout abolitionist of slavery, he was also part of the anti-alcohol or temperance movement. After about a year, he alienated a portion of the population he called “spiritualists,” gamblers and rum sellers.   

In August 1898 when Pastor Meage was pastor, the church, along with most of its furnishings and the pastor’s library, was destroyed by fire. It was considered the “finest and largest” pastor’s library in California. It is unknown what became of the church bell as when the ashes cooled, it was gone.  

The present building was finished and dedicated in February 1900. The church became the First Congregational Church of Tulare. The history of our church is in many respects the history of Tulare.   

For 150 years, the First Congregational Church of Tulare, United Church of Christ, still believes “All are welcome and united by God’s love. For the United Church of Christ, Justice and Jesus are inseparable. Our daily worship is anchored by the belief that God is still speaking.”