About Us

• The Westminster Presbyterian Church of Hueneme dates its earliest beginnings to 1885 when Thomas R. Bard and eight other residents of the little town of Hueneme made application to the Los Angeles Presbytery to form a new church. Lacking a building, the new congregation, which was named Hueneme Presbyterian Church, made arrangements with the Methodist Episcopal Board to use their sanctuary on two Sundays each month for their services. The Reverend J. H. Harris was appointed stated supply. By 1891 the congregation was large enough to construct its own building, which was located at the corner of Second and Scott streets on land that had been donated by Thomas Bard. Two years later the Reverend David Lander would become the first pastor of the fledgling church. For the next few years the congregation continued to grow, along with the town of Hueneme that was sustained by a growing commerce in grain shipped from its busy wharf. However, toward the end of the decade, a dramatic change took place in the region caused by the introduction of sugar beets that rapidly became the dominate crop. Late in 1897, after the construction of a new sugar refinery located in an area four miles north of Hueneme, a mass exodus of people occurred -- and a new town named Oxnard was formed. With the construction of a spur track by the Southern Pacific Railroad, connecting the new sugar factory with the mail line, and bypassing the wharf at Hueneme, the old town became nearly deserted. By 1905 the congregation at the Hueneme Presbyterian Church had declined to a point that it could no longer support a pastor, causing the Session to adjourn for what would become a period of fifteen years. The doors of the church, however, were not completely closed, because Sunday school classes were continued through the efforts of the Bard family, who alternated in teaching classes each Sunday. Finally, in 1918, when the Reverend William Miedema, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Oxnard, offered to conduct evening services at the moribund church, happily, membership began to be revitalized. By 1920, when the church was able to support the Reverend Miedema on a full-time basis, a new Session was formed and the name of the church was officially changed to the Community Presbyterian Church of Hueneme. In 1939, after 21 years of service in the Hueneme church and 48 years in the clergy, Reverend Miedema resigned his pastorate. In that same year, great changes were again occurring in Hueneme -- a Harbor was being constructed and was officially dedicated on July 5, 1940. With the completion of the harbor and the town actually a seaport, its residents proudly changed its name to the more portentous Port Hueneme. After the close of the WWII, residential construction in town began to proliferate moving the population center of Port Hueneme farther north, while at the same time, the older section of town steadily declined. With the passing of time, it became evident that the church needed a new location and, finally, in 1959 the congregation purchased a site consisting of ten residential lots facing Bard Road, across the street from Bubbling Springs Park. The first phase of construction, which consisted of a fellowship hall and an administrative/educational wing, was begun in March 1964. On October 4th of the same year, the first worship service was held in the new fellowship hall with an overflow crowd of 130 people in attendance. Not too many blocks away in Oxnard, at the corner of Samuel Ave. and Hughes Dr., just east of Saviers Rd. was the location of Westminster Presbyterian Church of Oxnard -- a strong active congregation under the leadership of the Reverend Warren Porter, who had begun his ministry there in 1962, just eleven years after its founding by the Reverend James W. Arnold. When it became known that the Hueneme church was actually being relocated to the Bard Rd. site, many in the Oxnard church were fearful that the two churches would be competing for memb