History Page

The Independence Boulevard Christian Church congregation has worshiped at this location for ninety-nine years. It has been the scene of great revivals and some of the greatest leaders of the Disciples of Christ denomination have served as its pastors and preached mightily from its pulpit. Most of the congregations of the Christian Church in Kansas City have leaders who were trained here, and in many ways we are the “Mother Church” of Kansas City’s Disciples of Christ.

Our ministry in the Northeast part of Kansas City began largely because the youth in the area in 1886 wanted a meeting place closer to home, rather than travel to downtown Kansas City for Bible Study. The Young Men's Society of Senior Endeavor of the First Christian Church on November 22, 1886 voted to establish a Mission Sunday School in an upstairs rented room at 2315 Independence Avenue. It grew into a full-fledged church, and a Sanctuary was built at 6th and Prospect (just around the corner from Independence Avenue) in 1890.

Mr. Robert Alexander Long, his wife, Ella, and daughters, Sallie and Loula, joined the 6^th and Prospect Church in 1891. Mr. Long, one of Kansas City’s wealthiest lumber barons, purchased the property at the corner of Independence Boulevard and Gladstone Boulevard in 1900, and gave it to the church. In 1903 an architect was hired to design a larger building, and in 1905 the congregation of approximately 200 families moved into their new, beautifully appointed sanctuary, and became Independence Boulevard Christian Church.

The congregation grew rapidly, and in 1909 Mr. Long challenged the members by offering to build an additional building to house the Church School Classes, if they could have 1,000 people in Church School for 13 consecutive Sundays. They met the challenge and on one Sunday even had 1,600 in attendance. True to his word, Mr. Long added an entire educational building, a gymnasium with running track, and a swimming pool.

In 1910 Mr. Long and his family moved from the Independence Boulevard home to their newly built mansion on Gladstone Boulevard (which was to become the Kansas City Museum). They may have lived a little farther away, but the Church continued to be an ongoing labor of love for Mr. & Mrs. Long. In 1911 they dedicated a bell tower installed above the education building to their friends and former neighbors, Judge and Mrs. D. O. Smart, who were charter members of the church. The bell tower houses 11 bells weighing 15 tons. Until his death at the age of 84, Mr. Long attended church every Sunday and all church meetings.

Dr. Combs and his family arrived in Kansas City in December 1892 from Shelbyville, Kentucky to become the minister of the 6th and Prospect Church. He was 28 years old. During his 26 year ministry, Dr. Combs added more than 3,200 members, an average of 123 per year. After the new Church was built in 1905, the new members averaged 253 per year. Two of Dr. Comb's sons enlisted in World War I. The church gave Dr. Combs a year's leave of absence to rest. Instead he went to Europe as a YMCA Chaplain to do what he could. He came home in 1919 physically exhausted, mentally drained and emotionally depressed. He turned in his resignation, but it was unanimously rejected. Three months later it was finally accepted with great reluctance. He retired to a farm near what is now Lake Jacomo in Jackson County, and after regaining his strength and hope, he began again and built a second congregation from 50 to 3,000 members during the next 20 years - the Country Club Christian Church.


Dr. George Hamilton Combs and his wife, Martha