Keeping the Faith

In Riggins, there were no formal churches until the 1930s, but early pioneers regularly gathered to worship, often meeting in the schoolhouse where Jim Aitken and other homesteaders taught Sunday School from Union Sunday School Publishers lesson plans, while Aitken also conducted gravesite ceremonies and traveling preachers sometimes held services in town or spent the winter in the warm canyon; Preacher Mountain west of town was named for Reverend Hess, who tried to homestead there. Five churches later came to serve the community: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints began in 1955 in the IOOF Hall, with Harry and Hanna Bingham as the first church missionaries and Avon Merrill as the first Branch President, moved in November 1956 to a Main Street building, and built a new chapel with baptistery in 1984; Riggins Assembly of God Church, begun in 1937 by Rev. Ivan West and Cliff Horton in a tent, became the first formal church in Riggins, built a new church on its present site in 1944, and added a new auditorium in the 1980s under Pastor Ed Jones; Riggins Christian Fellowship began in 1991 under Pastors Ann Wilson and Andrea Bergin, first meeting in homes, garages, Summerville’s Hall, and other buildings before moving to its present location in 1996; St. Jerome’s Catholic Church was completed in May 1948 on land donated by Salmon River pioneer Elgie Gotzinger Bratland, with Father Jerome O’Conner coming from Grangeville every two weeks after earlier services had been held in Bratland’s home and other residences; and Salmon River Community Church, an independent interdenominational church inspired by Opal Carlson and Hazel Spickelmire, began meeting in homes in 1959 under Pastor Dave Warner, then in the IOOF Hall, started services in its basement in 1969, and moved into its completed sanctuary in 1973, with church women playing important teaching, music, deaconess, and leadership roles in its development.

Riggins, Idaho · United States