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This congregation was organized on December 31, 1893, with the help of Presbyterian Evangelist Dr. A. H. P. McCurdy and 22 charter members, including Thompson Presley, Mrs. M. H. Boyd, Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Harnden, Rosa Lee Scott, Susan Beason, Mrs. C. B. Crow, Mr. and Mrs. Newton Johnson, Gussie Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Kaiser, Earnest Johnson, and Esther Starkey. In 1895 the congregation purchased land at this site and in 1898 they erected a 40 x 25 foot wood frame sanctuary. A Ladies Aid Society, later known as Presbyterian Women, organized in 1897, and a Sunday School opened in 1899. The congregation was served by Presbyterian evangelists until 1908 when the Rev. Edwin W. Ford became the first full-time pastor. Membership grew rapidly during the early 1900s and in 1917 the congregation reached its highest recorded enrollment of 212. In 1926 the original church building was shifted to another direction, brick-veneered, and modified into a two-story plant, with a sanctuary upstairs and a fellowship hall in the basement area. For many years Sunday School classes were held in a small wooden structure behind the church building. First Presbyterian Church continues to serve the community with various activities and programs. |
