Learn about the colorful history and craftsmanship behind First Presbyterian’s stained glass panels.

The beautiful stained glass windows of the First Presbyterian Church of Knoxville reflect both the colorful history of the church and the diverse, rich styles of the artisans who created them. Toughness, vision, ingenuity and resilience were required of those who led this church forward from its beginnings in 1792. The church’s selections of stained glass artisans, and the work they went on to do, resonate in a fascinating way with the church’s story.

The windows at First Presbyterian reflect at least three different movements within the art of stained glass. Adjectives that have been used to describe our windows have included “simple,” compared with the more Gothic or Victorian styles of other churches’ windows; “elegant,” “comforting,” and “varied.” The story of how they came to be is exciting and full of heroes. Best of all, it is still unfolding.

The church has 10 stained glass windows in its sanctuary and two in its narthex. There are two more at the north chancel entrance, and a window and door enclosing our Columbarium, making a total of 15. There is at least one more window covered up in its walls. The historic windows came from at least four studios:Tiffany Studios of New York, A.L. Brink Stained Glass Studio of New York, Willet-Hauser Art Glass Company of Philadelphia, and (attributed to) Flora MacDonald of the MacDonald Glass Works of Boston.

In 1897, the church began plans to build a new sanctuary. It would be the church’s third. The first (for both our church and the City of Knoxville) was known as the Brick Meeting House and was built in 1812-1816;and the second took its place between 1852-1855. When longtime church member Sophia Churchwell died in 1897, she left a provision in her will that she would donate $5,000 for a new sanctuary for First Presbyterian Church, provided that the church raise $20,000 for the building fund outside of her bequest.She stipulated that $1,000 of the money should be used to purchase a memorial window. The church raised the money.

On Sunday, Sept. 28, 1902, the new sanctuary, built for an estimated $30,000, opened its doors and held services for the first time. It was a graceful, low-hipped roof building with a Grecian portico and Ionic columns, 26 feet shorter than today’s sanctuary. The 1902 sanctuary would seat 625 people. A newspaper clipping from that day reported:

“The church will have four fine memorial windows. Chief of these is a window in memory of William Park, Mrs. Churchwell’s father, which, it is said, costs about one thousand dollars. The other windows are in memory of members of the White family, deceased, the Ray ls and Mr. S.B.Boyd, the latter being donated by Mrs. Isabella Boyd. The Churchwell window is at the front of the building and is a very handsome memorial.”

Who made those windows and what did they look like? All of these windows – the Park memorial window,the White memorial window, the Rayl window, and the Boyd window – are still in the church, although one, the Ray l window, has been greatly altered. Besides those four, the new church apparently had nine other windows. Pictures show that there were five windows on each of the north and the south sides on the sanctuary and three at the State Street opening of the church.

A walk through the church today quickly brings all that history to life. Four of the earliest windows have been attributed to Flora and Ruby MacDonald, daughters of stained glass artisan Donald MacDonald of Boston. Even though the church has no record of who made those windows, Lance Kasparian of Salem, MA, historical architect and expert on Donald MacDonald, has said he believes they are the MacDonald sisters’ work. He found a scrapbook with newspaper clips attesting to this. He even produced photographs of Flora and Donald MacDonald making the windows recognizable as those in our sanctuary today.