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Oberlin Collegiate Institute was founded in 1833 as part of the Christian mission of evangelizing the Mississippi Valley. Thus, one of the first tasks of Oberlin settlers was to found their own church to serve as a sort of home base for this mission. The Congregational Church of Christ was established in 1834 with 61 members. Its first pastor was Oberlin College founder John Jay Shipherd. When the renown revivalist Charles G. Finney arrived to teach at the college, he assumed the pastorate, attracting quite a bit of attention to little Oberlin, Ohio. Services were conducted in classrooms, in the town multi-purpose center, or later, in a large tent on Tappan Square. The congregation soon decided they needed a meeting place of their own. Plans were drawn by an eminent Boston architect, but they were heavily amended both by Finney himself who had some unique preferences, and by the zealously democratic congregation. All members of the congregation donated some amount of time, materials, or money. Professors pledged 1/3 of members of their salaries. Others with special expertise donated vast amounts of time. One man contributed all the materials he had gathered to build a house for his family and lived in a log cabin for the next 30 years. Even other communities participated. The gift record reveals that, in one case, the church received "twelve pounds of nails, a hat, a cheese, four bushels, a barrel of flour, a one-horse wagon, and two cows from residents of Medina." When the building was finally completed in 1844, the 1,400-1,500 person Meeting House was the largest auditorium west of the Alleghenies. In Oberlin's early years, it is important to remember that the activities of First Church and the college were largely indistinguishable. Nearly all aspects of the community were directed towards one singular purpose, that is, widespread Christian perfection through evangelization. Everyone--students, faculty, and community members--attended the lengthy Sabbath services in their assigned pews to hear Finney's soul-stirring sermons. The services were such an event that one man actually carted his wife to church on Sunday in a wheelbarrow. Despite the intensely religious environment of Oberlin's Finney years (a "perpetual revival," one student called it), there was nothing especially sacred about the Meeting House. Because all aspects of the Oberlin community were geared toward religious purposes, including civic and social issues, national politics, education, etc., there were no rules against hosting seemingly secular events in the Meeting House. Classes were sometimes held in the Meeting House, as was, for a time, the Oberlin Fire Department. First Church is included the National Register of Historic Places.