First Christian Church was completed to replace the congregation's first church building, which had been destroyed by fire in August, 1908. The site was purchased from W.F. Matlock and was chosen because it lay outside the high-risk fire area while remaining close to the main part of town. Chapman and Chapman designed the Romanesque style structure, using stone called tuff or tuffa from a quarry in Baker County near Pleasant Valley. Formed from ancient volcanic ash expelled by the same volcanic action that created the layered basalt exposed throughout the Columbia River Gorge, the stone was shipped by rail to Pendleton, then loaded into horse-drawn wagons and taken carefully over the old wooden Main Street Bridge, which could barely support a loaded wagon at that time. The Monterastelli Brothers Stonemasons of Pendleton cut and placed the stone. The church cost over $43,000 to build and was dedicated on March 20, 1910, though not all the rooms were yet completed. Its Romanesque features include round-topped door and window bays, crenellated towers, and a Palladian style window in the south gable end. Originally, stairs descended on both the south and east side of the main entrance, but they were later replaced because of their steepness and the widening of the street. The historic church building still serves a variety of civic organizations and groups for meetings and events.