A church for everyone – Kenwood’s original church

Compiled by historians Dee Sand, Margaret Wiltshire, and James Fidiam

Originally printed in the Kenwood Press as "Local History Lesson: 11/15/2015"

Photo courtesy of Dee Sand

The year was 1887 and residents of the newly forming community of Los Guilicos (now known as Kenwood) decided they needed a church. ​As the only town between Santa Rosa and Glen Ellen, Los Guilicos was an exclusive real estate development marketed as and up an coming “boom town” around the new depot and the railroad that would arrive in 1888. 

​The First Congregational Church of Los Guilicos had its first meeting on July 13, 1887, gathering at the newly minted Kirkwood Hotel on the corner of Rohrer Avenue (now Warm Springs Road) and Los Guilicos. By May 1888, a little church building had been constructed on the corner of Laurel Avenue and Los Guilicos. The cost totaled $2,500 and the charter membership totaled 11, with Reverend A. Drahms as the first minister.

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