Mission Yearbook: Presbytery of Cuba’s 1949 photo album illustrates church’s growth

Staff at the Presbyterian Historical Society have recently digitized in full a 259-page photograph album pieced together by the Presbytery of Cuba in 1949.

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Presbytery of Cuba photograph album, 1949, page 18. Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana de la Habana (First Presbyterian Church of Havana). Images clockwise from top left: choir, receiving the missionary, veterans, Sunday school teachers and officials. Middle image: governing body. 

The scrapbook was created with the intention of commemorating the first 50 years of mission work in the country — inside, group shots of students, teachers, pastors and their families, and missionaries abound. They are complemented by photos of the urban areas in which the seeds of numerous congregations were planted and subsequently blossomed.

In March 1890, the PCUS Board of Foreign Missions received a letter from Evaristo Collazo of Cuba. Collazo wrote of his and his wife’s work in Havana, where they ran a day school out of their home. He then asked for help — he wanted to continue offering this service to his community but also had to bring in financial support for his family. Would they send someone to assist him in this important work?

The Rev. Anthony Graybill, the founder of the PCUS Mexico Mission, arrived in Havana not long after. He hit the ground running, baptizing 40 adults, ordaining multiple elders and installing Collazo himself as pastor of the small congregation. 

Collazo and his wife continued serving in Havana; Magdalena Collazo until her death in 1893; Evaristo Collazo until he joined the liberation army in 1895, where he served as a male nurse with the rank of lieutenant. At this time, the deteriorating situation in Cuba led the PCUS Board of Foreign Missions to suspend work for the time being. It wasn’t until after U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence that the church reinstated mission work in Cuba. In fact, the mission boards of nine U.S. Protestant churches sent missionaries to Cuba as the 19th century gave way to the 20th. One example is the April 1899 arrival of PCUS missionary Juan G. Hall in Cardenas, who was received by Ezequiel Torres and Isabel Waugh — all three are names that readers will find dotted throughout the photo album’s captions. The First Presbyterian Church of Cardenas, organized by Hall on Feb. 11, 1900, with 21 members, two elders, and two deacons, is known today as Iglesia Presbiteriana Reformada “Juan G. Hall” en Cárdenas. After Hall’s death in 1904, he was succeeded by Robert L. Wharton.

In 1904, there were seven Presbyterian churches in Havana alone. This includes Collazo’s congregation at the Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana de la Habana (First Presbyterian Church of Havana), which traces its official organization to the year 1901. Upon his return to Havana after his stint in the liberation army, Collazo began collaborating with a missionary sent by the PCUSA Board of National Missions. Pedro Rioseco, of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, arrived in Havana in 1899, where he and Collazo opened a day school together. 

After a letter from Rioseco arrived detailing how their last service in Havana filled the space entirely, leaving barely room to stand, the board sent the Rev. Dr. Joseph Milton Greene to assist the two men in organizing their congregation into an officially recognized church. Greene arrived in October 1901; on Dec. 8, the First Presbyterian Church of Havana was established. Collazo continued his work as before, taking to the pulpit and teaching the local children. He became an official member of the PCUSA and served as moderator of the Presbytery of Havana in 1906.

The Presbytery of Havana was organized on Nov. 16, 1904. It included five pastors, seven congregations, and 416 members. 

By 1918, the presbytery consisted of 27 churches — some of which had previously belonged to other denominations. After experiencing firsthand the rising influence and strong impact of the Presbyterian missionaries on the local Cuban communities, the Congregational Church formally transferred four of its congregations to the Presbytery of Havana in February 1909. 

The unification of all Presbyterian mission work in Cuba in 1918 added more congregations, bumping the number up to 27. Six ministers previously working under the auspices of the PCUS were added to the presbytery’s roll, including Robert Wharton of Cardenas. 

In 1930, the Presbytery of Havana was renamed the Presbytery of Cuba. On Jan. 1, 1959, the Presbytery of Cuba reported 4,293 members in 34 congregations with 46 ministers.

McKenna Britton, Communications Associate, Presbyterian Historical Society Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Rachel Anderson, Global Ecumenical Liaison, Global Ecumenical Liaison Office, Interim Unified Agency
Molly Atkinson, Senior Administrative Assistant, Financial Aid Service, Interim Unified Agency

Let us pray:

God of steadfast faith, we give thanks for the generations who planted seeds of your love in Cuba, and for missionaries, pastors and families who served with courage and dedication. Bless the work of remembering and preserving their stories, so that we may learn from their faith, perseverance and vision. Amen.