History: The Oldest Church Building Still Standing in San Leandro

What value is there in an old building? One of the oldest buildings in San Leandro is affectionately known as the Little Brown Church.

Most of the building was demolished, but a part of the Little Brown Church still stands, even after two relocations. Now in its third reincarnation, today the Little Brown Church is home to the San Leandro Historical Society. It sits, quietly and unimposing, on the city lot that is also home to the and the San Leandro History Museum and Art Gallery.

The First Presbyterian Church—the third church to be built in San Leandro—was dedicated on April 28, 1867.  Construction was not entirely completed when services were held there for J. W. Josselyn, a deputy county clerk who was killed in the 1868 earthquake that caused the collapse of the two blocks down Clarke Street.

Nothing remains of the first two San Leandro church buildings – the Methodist church (1856) and the old St. Leander’s (1864), except a St. Leander’s cross now in the San Leandro History Museum.

The First Presbyterian Church stood on the northwest corner of Clarke and Hepburn (today’s West Joaquin). Church members raised the $5,000 for its construction. According to an article in Wheeling through San Leandro, Captain Andrew Halverson brought lumber for the church aboard his schooner from San Francisco. The church was built with old-growth redwood, no doubt one of the reasons the sturdy old building still graces San Leandro more than a century and many earthquakes later.

In 1880, a 12x16 foot room was added to the church for a Sunday school.

It’s difficult to tell from old black-and-white photographs just what color it was originally painted, but it must have been some shade of brown, because members of the First Presbyterian Church always referred to it as the Little Brown Church. 

The Sanctuary Moves, but the Sunday School Stays

In 1925, the congregation moved to a new building on Estudillo. Ten years later, the sanctuary part of the old church was moved to an area near Fairmont Hospital, where it was again used for religious services. In the early 1960s, it was demolished to make way for a freeway.

But the Sunday school wing remained on Clarke Street, and kept the Little Brown Church moniker. Ethel Saunders, a missionary assigned to San Leandro, taught a daily Bible class, and reading, writing, sewing, and cooking, in the old Presbyterian Church Sunday school. 

Inevitably, the lot was sold and the building slated for demolition.

The Sunday School Moves -- Twice

But the San Leandro Historical Society acquired the building and moved it down the street behind the old Daniel Best home. Three years later, in 1979, the Best home was about to be sold, and once again the Little Brown Church needed a new home. The city council and the city’s historical cultural advisory commission agreed to permit the church to be moved behind the Casa Peralta, only a block away.

It took half a day and cost more than $3,000 to move the church the second time. Trees had to be trimmed and a 7-by-15 foot section of the Casa Peralta wall opened to allow the building to reach its new home.

The San Leandro Historical Society held a celebration and dedication for the Little Brown Church in its new location on November 11, 1981.  Karen Holzmeister, Daily Review staff writer, wrote:

In ceremonies more like a church social than a formal event, the memories flowed like wine among 75 people who disregarded early morning breezes to tour the tiny chapel… One of the celebrants was Margaret Valentine Rose, whose arrival in town in the early 1920s coincided with her membership in the church.

Mrs. Rose, a staunch and lifelong Presbyterian whose voice retains the soft burr of her native Scotland, reminisced.  'We came at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and being Sunday, in Scotland you go to church. So we went to my aunt’s house, changed our clothes, had breakfast, and went to church here.' . . .

. . . Phyllis Miller said the parade was led by her father, Ed Duck, a Sunday school superintendent and city mayor, who later that decade joined Alameda County District Attorney Earl Warren in raiding the “Bucket of Blood” saloon in downtown San Leandro. 

In the past several decades, the Little Brown Church has been the site of weddings, baptisms, meetings, and events. Old stories, old buildings.  What value do they have for us today?

Each of us has a history—an account of where we come from and how we got to be who we are. So do buildings. The stories of people and structures are woven in with the larger history of states and nation to create the history of a community.  History has the power to inform, delight, inspire, and enrich our lives. It connects us as a community. 

So, what is the value of an old building?

Our 132-year-old Little Brown Church is showing its age.  Our first bid for exterior preservation tasks has come in at $27,000. The local Questers organization has pledged $2,000 to start us on the preservation and restoration of the Little Brown Church. Thank you, Questers! 

Will you help ensure that this piece of San Leandro’s past has a place in San Leandro’s future?

Will you donate to help us preserve the exterior, refinish the old wood floor, repair the stained glass windows, shine the old brass hinges, and make the Little Brown Church both a beautiful reminder of San Leandro’s past and a functional part of San Leandro’s future?  

Find out about contributing to the Little Brown Church Fund at www.sanleandrohistory.org.

The next San Leandro Historical Society meeting takes place Thursday, March 15, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the San Leandro Main Library, 300 Estudillo Avenue, San Leandro. A 20-minute slideshow and presentation of Little Brown Church history and pictures will precede the business meeting. Nonmembers are welcome.

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