According to a church history prepared in 1958, Pilgrim Congregational Church was founded in 1882 in a tent located across from the Grant Smelter, near where the Denver Coliseum is today. The congregation, which began with just 15 members, was received into the council of Congregational churches in 1883. Services were led each Sunday in the tent by the first pastor of Pilgrim, Rev. Charles S. Uzzell. After a windstorm blew the tent over, it was decided that a more substantial church should be constructed. A new frame chapel was built on the same site across from the smelter and dedicated in 1884.
Pastor Uzzell was instrumental in the construction of the church, and of the growth of the congregation. A December 1883 article in the Denver Republican noted that the congregation had grown by twenty‐four individuals in the prior six months, and that attendance at Sunday school had reached over one hundred. Just a year later, an article in the Rocky Mountain News noted that the congregation had grown to 200 members, and that an addition to the church was nearly completed.
By 1890, it was decided to move the church to a more central location. Three lots were purchased in Block 7 of Elyria, on Legge Street (today’s Vine Street), and the church was moved to its current location. To accommodate the growing congregation, a new room was added to the chapel building ca. 1897. In 1912, a small parsonage was built just to the south of the church.
In 1915, a fire “of unknown origin” damaged the church, causing $700 in damage. It took two hours for local fireman to extinguish it. Due to the expense of the needed repairs, much of the work was done by the congregation. Work was done at night and on Saturdays, as most of the congregation members had day jobs.
While the congregation of Pilgrim Congregational Church has dwindled over the years, it continues to be a force in the Elyria Swansea community.
