15. First Presbyterian Church

Rev. W. S. Lacy organized the First Presbyterian Church in late 1845.  In March 1846, the church held its first services in a small frame building across from the Presbyterian Cemetery on South Washington Avenue, with 12 original members.  The membership grew steadily until 1862 when a storm leveled the building to the ground and all of the able-bodied men and boys left for the Civil War.  The church disbanded and the church bell was given to the Confederacy to be melted down into cannon balls.  Ruling Elder Newton Gilbert Hammond was one of the ones who helped re-organize the church in 1868 following the war, meeting in members’ homes until a small frame chapel was built in 1872, on the southeast corner of Main at Hill.  From 1897 to ’98, a structure was built on the southeast corner of the current lot and was used until the oil discovery hit.  Within four days of the church announcing its plans for a new building in 1924, $104,000 was already raised.  In 1926, the current brick sanctuary and Sunday School wing were completed, and the women’s auxiliary had raised $20,000 for its Moller pipe organ.  The Presbyterians have since added a chapel and education facilities (1954/55), and a playground (1998) in celebration of the church’s 150 years.