History
During the 1860s, the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions established several churches throughout the western United States. In April of 1876, a Presbyterian Church was founded in Ellis, holding services at Willow School. In 1878, the Central Pacific Railroad abandoned Ellis in favor of Tracy, just three miles away. The rest of the town, including many of its buildings, followed the railroad to Tracy.
In 1886, at a cost of $2,400 funded by the community, construction began on the new Presbyterian Church of Tracy. It was built upon land donated by Charles Crocker of Southern Pacific Railroad on the southwest corner of 9th Street and Central Avenue. Dedicated October 2, 1887, this building soon became a community church, sharing its facilities with the Lutheran and Methodist congregations.
In 1917, the City of Tracy purchased the church’s land at 9th and Central to construct a new city hall (which currently houses the Tracy Fire Department Administration). The church building was moved to the northwest corner of 10th Street and B Street (the present site of Bank of America).
Adjacent to the church was a small house, which was built in 1915. This house would serve as the living quarters for the church’s minister.
In addition to regular church services, the building was also the site of Sunday school lessons.
In 1926, The First Presbyterian Church of Tracy, having outgrown the original church building, moved to its larger current location on Berverdor Avenue. Other smaller community churches continued to hold services in the original building over the next several years.
In the early 1950s, the old church (minus its steeple) was moved once again, along with the little house next door, to its present location at the southwest corner of 9th Street and Metcalf Court. There, it housed The Little Theatre of Tracy Community Players for many years before once again housing smaller church congregations.
By 2015, the Abundant Life Church had moved out of the old church and the building was renovated into a private residence. In 2018, the current owners purchased the property for their family home with the intention of preserving the structure and restoring as much of it as possible to its original state, with the eventual goal of officially registering it as a local historic landmark.
