The Dutch Reformed congregation of Uitenhage, the 10th oldest Dutch Reformed congregation in South Africa and the second oldest in the Eastern Cape is the distinction of being the first and only church of the Dutch Reformed Church formed from three churches! When on 22 June 1950, the mother church decided Uitenhage North, EAST and -The Mist to secede.
Early in 1804, Graaff-Reinet was proclaimed a separate drostdy. It received the surname of, Mr. JA Uitenhage de Mist who was the commissioner-general, during the reign of the Batavian Republic. Already in 1809 there were among the incumbents a motion to have its own church, and so it was certainly a memorable event for the first time in June 1816! Council members for Uitenhage on presentation of the magistrate approved by the governor. Rev. Cornelis Mol who was an Afrikaner from birth. In 1823, however Rev. Mol, for some reason without officially saying goodbye, left Uitenhage and in October of the same ,year, became minister of Swellendam.
His successor was Reverend. Alexander Smith , one of the Scottish ministers at that time! With exemplary faithfulness, he retired in 1863 after 40 years. During his ministry he also completed the church building, which later served as the town's church hall.
In 1862 Rev. Abraham Isaac Steytler, became the new minister. He strove for education and was the founder of the Riebeeck college girls and a boys' school for a while is maintained without government assistance. As minister of Cape Town , he served as moderator of the Cape Synod in 1909. Ds. Steytler was succeeded by Rev. Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, a son of Prof. NJ Hofmeyr of the Seminary at Stellenbosch. In 1887, however, he left the ministry to become a schools inspector, later many years.
Ds. Daniel Joshua Pienaar came in 1887, from Aliwal North to Uitenhage . During the Synod of 1915 he was elected moderator. He had also worked for the local education and founded the industrial school that served as a model for similar institutions, in the former Cape.
Ds. Antonie Johannes Troskie came in 1926 to Uitenhage, from Ficksburg . During his ministry, the new church was opened on February 2, 1929. In 1932 he died after an operation in Port Elizabeth .
Despite having been established in February 1804, the growth of a Dutch Reformed congregation in Uitenhage was relatively slow, and a was only confirmed on 12 February 1818 when Landdrost Captain Jacob Cuyler submitted plans to the local Church Council for the construction of a church. The design, together with a tender of £2,400 from CF Pohl for its construction, was accepted. Unfortunately building was beset by a number of problems, and after the Church Elders had engaged in a protracted law suit against Pohl, the church was finally consecrated on 27 August 1843. It remained in use until 1927, when a new church was built along side it, and the old building remained in use as a hall.
It was declared a National Monument under old NMC legislation on 21 October 1966.
