The first services were held by Rev.
Wm. B. Van Valkenburgh in 1901 in the schoolhouse. There were nine
charter members. Various Protestant denominations attended those
early services. Property was purchased on the corner of Thomson Avenue
and Second Street. A church building was completed and dedicated
the following year. It took a while to build, because the man had
to transport the lumbar in a wagon and worked on the church in their spare
time. The first parsonage was built in 1903.
When the original church building
was damaged in a 1918 hurricane, it was sold and moved off of the property.
The congregation bought the Congregational Church and parsonage, located
at the corner of Kenny Avenue and Second Street, for $3,200. A new
annex was completed in 1927 and added classrooms and a kitchen. Additional
rooms were added in 1943. The parsonage was taken down in 1947 and
replaced with a new one. It was dedicated on March 7, 1948.
The present sanctuary was built in
1950, holding it’s first service on November 7. A few years later,
new pews were purchased. The sanctuary was dedicated on May 9, 1954.
In the mid 1980s, the church acquired
a new parsonage on Lightner Street. The 1943 building and the 1947
parsonage were sold in 1986 so that an educational wing could be added
to the church facilities. In the summer of 1986, the chancel and
choir areas of the sanctuary were renovated. The educational wing
was dedicated on April 20, 1988 under the leadership of Rev. Mark Benge.
It contained six classrooms, restrooms, a nursery, and a storage area.
Stained glass windows were installed
in the sanctuary in 1995. A stained glass window was added to the
narthex, which was renovated that year. The following year, a pre-school
program was started. This required remodeling of the classrooms and
enclosing the playground on the south side.
Though the church doesn’t have
a cemetery, many of its former members are buried in nearby Pine Hill Cemetery. |
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