The Stained Glass Windows in First Presbyterian Church
When the church was built in 1976, the highly symbolic and colorful Keck windows were removed from the sanctuary of the old church at Franklin and North streets, which was damaged beyond repair when the steeple fell in 1973.
The windows on the west wall (to the left in the picture) represent Old Testament stories. The lower portion shows figures from the stories; the upper portion shows related symbols. The windows on the north wall (to the right) represent New Testament stories in the same way. We have posted pages about the windows, with a picture of each window and our descriptions of the figures and the symbols. Links to these pages are at the bottom of this page.
In the old church, the symbols, which are darker in the picture, were above the balcony. The figures at the bottom of the windows were below the balcony.
These windows are about half the size of the windows in the old church, but the pictorial and symbolic sections are the same. In the old church, they were surrounded by geometric panes like the ones in the middle, which look very bright in the picture.
The windows were designed and manufactured by the Henry Keck Studio of Syracuse, New York and originally installed in 1967. A committee of members and ministers of the church determined with the Keck Studio that the windows would portray major motifs of the Judaeo-Christian faith. The windows were repaired and installed in the new church by J. Gilbert Sommers with advice from the Henry Keck Studio. The metal cross at the center is by the noted Syracuse sculptress Arlene Abend and is a memorial to Aram Balian.
The pages for the Old Testament windows are:
- The Creation and The Fall
- Paradise Lost and The Tower of Babel
- Abraham and Isaac and Bondage in Egypt
- The Passover and Moses at the Red Sea
- Moses receives the law and David, Shepherd and King
- Isaiah the Prophet and Jeremiah the Prophet
The pages for the New Testament windows are: