JAMES LOGAN GORDON,  D. D. 

 

JAMES LOGAN GORDON,  D. D.  In the downtown district of San Francisco at Post and Mason streets stand the First Congregational Church, regarded as the most popular church in the city, and also frequently called the “Church of the Stranger”. Within a radius of a few blocks of the church are 500 hotels, and from these hotels comes no small part of the congregation attending the various services. It is estimated that 7,000 people attend the aggregated services during the week, including three main services on Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday evening.

The pastor of this church is Dr. James Logan Gordon, who has had a career of real distinction in the ministry. He was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 28, 1858, son of John Robert and Margaret (Logan) Gordon. His mother was born at Belfast, Ireland, and was a distant cousin of General John A. Logan. John Robert Gordon, a native of Scotland, and son of a titled Englishman, at one time taught in a university in Scotland and was also a teacher in America.

Dr. James L. Gordon was educated in public and private schools of Philadelphia. The college at Fargo, North Dakota, conferred upon him the Doctor of Divinity degree.  After his early schooling in California he became invoice clerk in charge of the foreign department in John Wanamaker’s store, and for twelve years was in Young Men’s Christian Association work as secretary in Brooklyn and Boston, and as state secretary in Connecticut. For a brief time he was also located at Easton and Erie, Pennsylvania.

Ordained to the Congregational ministry in 1898, he served as pastor at St. John’s, New Brunswick, from 1898 to 1900; at Toronto, Ontario, from 1900 to 1905; at Winnipeg, Manitoba, from 1905 to 1914, and from 1915 to 1919 was pastor of the First Congregational Church of Washington D.C., the church that President Coolidge attends.

On October 1, 1919, Doctor Gordon came to San Francisco to take up his work as pastor of the First Congregational Church. He has done much to vitalize and broaden the service and influence of the church. In addition to his sermons and addresses before the audiences 100,000 copies of the service are printed and distributed without cost.  This church is also known as the convention church of San Francisco. Many important gatherings are held there, including those of the Scottish Rite bodies of the Masonry, the Manitoba, Canada, Lodge of Perfection, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Doctor Gordon for years has been a contributor to newspapers and magazines and is author of many public addresses and pamphlets. His two best known books are “Individuality in the Young Man and his Problem,” published in 1911, and “All’s Love, Yet All’s Law,” published in 1914. He is a republican in politics, is a member of the Commonwealth and Rotary clubs of San Francisco. Doctor Gordon married at Reading, Pennsylvania, June 15, 1887, Lillian Hoffman James. She was born at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, of an old American family of Revolutionary stock and English descent.

Transcribed by Sally Wickman.