The church’s beginnings go back to 1865 when Hannah Shaw, a returned Civil War nurse, organized a Sunday School in her brother William’s home on Glenshaw Avenue. A mission church was then started in the Shaw’s vacant sickle factory on Butler Plank Road.
The Glenshaw Presbyterian Church was organized in 1885 and the first charter was granted January 23, 1886. The current church building was completed in 1887 on land along Butler Plank Road which was donated by the Shaw family. Membership was reported as 107.
Glenshaw Valley Presbyterian Church about 1910
An additional 3 rooms were added to the building in 1911 to accommodate increased membership and by 1925 membership had grown to 406. A new building was then built on Glenn Avenue and that church was opened January 1, 1928. Some members of the congregation remained in the Valley and held services in the Glenshaw School until the original church building was re-opened on October 28, 1928. The charter for this church was granted April 15, 1931, as Glenshaw Valley Presbyterian Church.
In 1939, the beautiful stained-glass windows were installed. These tell the story of the Life of Christ from the Annunciation to Pentecost. The Christian Education building was dedicated on June 4, 1961, and the Fellowship Hall, later, renamed McFadden Hall, was dedicated October 23, 1977. The church has seen a number of changes and improvements through the years, always staying true to its long history.
The sentiment cannot be said better than in a 1927 letter to a local newspaper by members staying at the Valley church:
“…for the old church is very dear to the hearts of the valley people and to many others. It represents the fruits of years of labor and sacrifice and while neither pretentious nor imposing, its influence has been widely felt, it has kept the surrounding country a clean, fit place in which to live and it apparently has many more years of usefulness ahead of it.”
Caroline Shaw Tatom, F.E. Hodil, Elton E. Young
Glenshaw Valley Presbyterian Church is registered as a Pittsburgh Historic Landmark.