Church History

Prairie churches were often among the first permanent structures in a frontier town—sometimes built by people who hadn’t even finished their own houses yet. The buildings served as spiritual centers, but they served civic and educational functions, too.

As Ferenc Morton Szasz wrote in CH issue 66: How the West Was Really Won, “Modest though they might have been, these churches and Sunday schools served as bulwarks of social stability. Not only did they provide venues for regular services, their rooms held a variety of social gatherings as well, thus functioning as training grounds for political democracy.”

Understanding this legacy, Morse Church strives to reflect the best aspects of the community spirit embodied in the prairie church of yesterday.

Click here to read about Morse Church’s beginnings in Overland Park