Pineridge Blog

Pine Ridge History

In February a Presbytery meeting at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, KS, began with a simple remembrance of the Native people who had once lived on the land where that church stands.

It was just a couple of sentences calling to mind the Kaw people who had lived there for generations. It was also said that presbytery meetings all across the  denomination will begin that way this year.

That made me realize that I really know nothing about the history of our church property before the presbytery bought it in the 1950’s from the Lampe family who farmed here. I wondered not only what Native peoples called this land home, but also the history of the ground where our church sits after it became a part of Platte county and the United States of America.

After the meeting I sent an email to Sue Johnson to see if she knew the answers to these questions. Sue is a long-time member of Pine Ridge, a career teacher and someone who has access to how to research such historical questions. She has done a lot of genealogical work on her own family who have deep roots in Missouri and Kansas. 

One thing led to another and Sue was soon on the case to learn even more! Boy was she. Off and on for the past four months she has thoroughly researched the church property. Her work has included trips to the courthouse in Platte City to dig though the historic records all the way back to 1839 when Platte County was formed.

Thanks also to her husband, Harry, who was her faithful assistant and especially helpful in handling the big old record books. And she is currently studying a very detailed (2000 page) history of Platte County written in 1897 by a man name Paxton. She even discovered that Paxton was a Presbyterian and a member of the Platte City Presbyterian Church which was started by the Weston Presbyterian Church, chartered in 1845!

As we celebrate the Fourth of July and think about our shared history as Americans, I want to remember and celebrate our history as Americans who live and worship here on this land, so I will share some of what she and I have found on Sunday thanks mostly to Sue (and Harry)!