West Point Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) : History

West Point Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)
History

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Historical Highlights...

On December 10, 1837, a group of thirteen people met in the home of Thomas S. Reese. During this meeting, West Point Presbyterian Church was organized by the South Alabama Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

This handful of people began to meet once a month for worship services in a nearby log cabin. Fifteen years later (July 30, 1852 to be exact!) the fifty member congregation built and dedicated its first building, located at the corner of Avenue G and 19th Street, the present location of Sweet Georgia Brown's Antique Store (the old Skinner Furniture Building). The building straddled the Alabama-Georgia state line with the minister preaching from the pulpit in Alabama and the congregation listening while seated in Georgia! And interestingly enough, the History of the City of Lanett, Alabama (West Point's neighbor to the west) considers West Point Presbyterian the First Church established in Lanett (see, "The Story of Bluffton-Lanett Alabama," Paragon Press, 1971. Page 59)! During the Civil War, a silver communion service that was given to the West Point Presbyterian Church by Mrs. Anna Storey Reese in 1840, was hidden under the front steps of the church for safe-keeping. Today, this 167-year-old communion service is preserved and displayed in the Pastor's Study.

The original building of West Point Presbyterian was severely damaged twice by flood, once in 1886 and again in 1919. In 1920, Mr. Isham Stanley, the Senior Elder, was killed when the frame building was completely destroyed by a cyclone. The congregation held services in the Jewish Synagogue until the present building, located at Fifth Avenue and West 10th Street was completed in 1923. This same storm also destroyed the local Episcopal Church, the third-floor of a local Theatre, and the steeple of First Baptist Church.

The "new" Sanctuary was dedicated, free of debt, at the centennial commemoration on December 12, 1937, with four of its former pastors present. A modern educational building was dedicated in 1962, including John E. Davis Hall, the church's Fellowship Hall. The present church membership numbers 147 and a full church program is in progress.