The First Church in Cincinnati

continued . . .

Thus, the Presbytery of Cincinnati can claim the oldest Presbyterian congregation west of the Allegheny Mountains. Two current congregations, Covenant-First and Pleasant Ridge, have roots in this first church.

The Presbytery of record at that time was the Presbytery of Transylvania, covering Kentucky, Tennessee, and the settlement churches of the Ohio River Valley.

Increasing migration to expanded Northwest Territories, Ohio becoming a state in 1803, and the increase in the number of Presbyterian churches in the Ohio River Valley, (over the next several decades was greater than the rise in population) resulted in creating new presbyteries.

The Presbytery of Transylvania was divided into three smaller Presbyteries: the Presbytery of Washington (1799) covered northern Kentucky, southeast Indiana, and west-central Ohio.

Continuing growth led to the further split of western Ohio to Miami Presbytery (west of the Little Miami River, including northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana) and east Ohio to Scioto Valley Presbytery.

As Cincinnati and Dayton continued to expand, the Presbytery of Cincinnati was formed in 1822 by dividing up the Miami Presbytery, an action of the Synod of Ohio. The Miami Presbytery retained the northern churches, and the Presbytery of Cincinnati contained churches in several southwest Ohio counties, as well as continuing to reach into southeast Indiana and northern Kentucky.

The Presbytery of Cincinnati’s current footprint is almost identical to what is was in 1822.