History of La Cañada Congregational Church
Organized in 1897 and declared a historic landmark of the State of California in 1969, La Cañada Congregational Church is the oldest church in the valley. As we celebrate our 125th anniversary, we will reflect upon and celebrate our history while looking towards, planning, and living our future.
In 1897, fifteen pioneers of the La Crescenta Valley meet in the home of Jacob and Ammoretta Lanterman to sign the formal covenant to charter La Cañada Congregational Church. These families had been meeting regularly for informal worship in that home over a number of years, and the time had come for the growing community to have its first church. The original sanctuary was a one-story frame building which was located on the present church site. The lot was a gift from the Lanterman family, and both $1200 in cash and labor were donated by citizens of the community. Nearly 200 persons attended the formal dedication on April 19, 1898.
For many years the church was the focal point for nearly all social, charitable, cultural and community services in the valley. The first Boy Scout Troop of the area was organized here, and continues to enjoy church sponsorship to this day. Eventually the need for newer and larger facilities became apparent, and the present sanctuary building was built in 1924 and dedicated on December 14. A beautiful stained glass window with a classic illustration of Christ Knocking at the Door was installed the following year over what was then the main entrance to the sanctuary, and dedicated to Jacob and Ammoretta Lanterman. Congressman John Stephen McGroarty, Poet Laureate of California, immortalized it in an essay in the Los Angeles Times, and the congregation adopted the name Church of the Lighted Window.
In 2008, the congregation restored its original name, La Cañada Congregational Church, in recognition of its significant contributions to the life and history of its larger community. The church was proclaimed an historic landmark of the State of California in 1969. Subsequent expansions to its campus and ministry continue to honor the challenge of that hallmark.
John Stephen McGroarty and the Church of the Lighted Window
Teacher, attorney, and journalist John Stephen McGroarty (1862-1944) and his wife, Ida, moved to Tujunga, California from Pennsylvania in 1901. He soon joined the staff of the Los Angeles Times, where he remained for over 40 years.
Already an acclaimed poet, McGroarty wrote The Mission Play in 1911 - a three-hour pageant about the California Missions with a cast of hundreds. It ran for twenty years in San Gabriel, and the San Gabriel Playhouse was eventually built to house it. McGroarty also authored 1911’s California—Its History and Romance, one of the first works to recognize the literary significance of the Golden State.
He was appointed Poet Laureate of California in 1933, and served as a member of the United States Congress from 1935 – 1939. His house, “Rancho Chupa Rosa,” was built in 1924, and now houses the McGroarty Arts Center (founded 1953).
The same year the McGroarty house was completed, the original schoolhouse-style sanctuary of La Cañada Congregational Church was rebuilt in a French-Gothic design by LA Architects Walker & Eisen. The crowning feature of the new church was a Tiffany-style window given in memory of Jacob and Ammoretta Lanterman depicting Jesus “standing at the door” and knocking (Revelations 3:20). In his column in the Illustrated Magazine of the Sunday Los Angeles Times, McGroarty described “a lighted window that shines out upon a lonely night; and the Wanderer at the Crossroads looking down to greet you” - and the church remains known unofficially as the Church of the Lighted Window.
Charles F. Pate, Pioneer Photographer
Born 1874 in the English county of Kent, Charles F. Pate arrived in New York on December 21, 1892 aboard the SS Teutonic of the White Star Line and settled in La Cañada in 1893.
Although he received a regular income from his family’s investments, he held many occupations in his adopted country: cultivating peach and prune trees on his Hillard Avenue property, ranching, carpentry, and more. He worked as an apricot picker for the Lanterman family, whose orchards included the future site of La Cañada Congregational Church, and his relationship with the family continued for the rest of his life; he is known to have worked on the “new” church sanctuary in 1924.
Charles Pate married local teacher Mary Wilbur in 1903, and their daughter Florence was born on a trip to England in 1904. Florence, a talented singer, was engaged to Lloyd Lanterman, but tragically passed away in 1957. Charles himself died in 1961 at the age of 86.
Considered a La Cañada pioneer, Charles Pate was an avid photographer and wrote of the early history of the La Crescenta Valley. His unfinished memoir, Reminiscences of a Tenderfoot, was published by the Lanterman House Museum Archives. The Museum also houses La Cañada Congregational Church’s Charles Pate Photography Collection, which is of particular interest to scholars of California history.
