honoring Nathan Morrison,
depicts the Good Shepherd
-- and links the church's
history with WSU's.
Stained glass evidences the historic relationship between Wichita State and Fairmount United Church of Christ.
Two of the church’s decorative windows are dedicated to congregants who played an instrumental role in the formation of Fairmount College: Nathan Morrison, the first president of the school, and William Henry Isely, its first dean.
“It was the first church in the northeast part of Wichita, back when this area was the sticks,” says Marjorie Stewart, one of the members of the church’s Historical Preservation Committee. “All these people who were struggling to found the university and keep it going were members of our congregation.”
Stewart explains that the stained-glass window honoring President Morrison depicts the Good Shepherd; Isely’s window illustrates the Parable of the Sower.
Founded in 1892 as the Fairmount Congregational Church, the church’s current building was constructed in 1910.
This past May, the building qualified for the Kansas State Register of Historic Places, due in large part to the windows that link its history to the college’s.
In preparation for the building’s centennial anniversary four years from now, plans are being made to refurbish and update the facilities.
And the congregation is raising funds for the project, which they hope will be augmented by a grant from the Kansas Historical Society.
Fairmount United Church of Christ is located at Fairmount and 16th Street, one block south of campus.
