SCOTT: Winchester First Baptist Church celebrates 200th Anniversary

PROTECTED CONTENT

If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.

Username

Password

Login

Lost your password?

Username and Password Help

Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.

Email

Submit

← Back

By Carmen Ensinger

It was a glorious and blessed day Sunday, June 22 as the Winchester First Baptist Church celebrated it’s 200th Anniversary with the return of several former pastors and a meal in the Fellowship Hall after worship.

“Technically, we are not 200 years old for another three days – June 25,” Pastor Bill Baughman said. “But we didn’t think anyone would mind if we were a few days early.”

It was on June 25, 1825 that 14 dedicated young Baptists, in their 20’s met in the home of David Casebier and founded the Sandy Creek Church.

Since beginning its existence in a private home, the church has worshipped first in a log house erected in the south part of town, then in a frame house south and on the west side of the street by City Hall. They paid $100 for it and ultimately sold this building in July of 1852 for $450, saving the bell. They then used the extra profits from the sale to buy the present three lots of the existing building.

On July 1, 1865, the church voted to build the towers at the front of the church at an estimated cost of $1,500.

Skipping ahead to the 1920’s, in 1925 Rev. E. L. Bayliss was pastor of the church. On Jan. 3, 1926, the church clerk, Sybil Fox reported church membership at 323 with an average attendance of 299. The Sunday School Department had an average enrollment of 161.

During this time, the church was a member of the Morgan-Scott Baptist Association. It was in July of 1928 that the Winchester members discussed the question of consolidation of the Association with the Greene-Jersey one to the south. After a lengthy discussion, the members voted against the merger.

In October of 1929, the stock market collapsed, turning rich men into paupers. Church pledges went unpaid for a while and the amount of pledges remained the same for 1930.

A new furnace for the church was installed in January of 1929. Pledges in the amount of $182.50 were received to pay part of the cost of $650, the rest to be solicited by the trustees.

The church budget for 1930 remained the same as that of 1929. It was as follows: Pastor, $2,000; Janitor, $300; Missionary, $200; Organist, $100 and lights, fuel, etc., $200.

Times were hard in 1933 and the church faced financial problems. A loan was given to the church in the amount of $800 by the Winchester First State Bank to carry on the business of the church. The loan was subscribed and sworn on Feb. 15, 1933.

In July of that same year, the church demanded the immediate possession of the Smith Hotel. W.L. Bagshaw was given the power by the trustees to serve notice to Mr. Shibes for possession. Foreclosure on the Smith Hotel in Winchester was approved on Sept. 4.

At a special business meeting on March 27, 1934, the trustees reported that Mrs. H.M. Christison had paid a $700 note and its $108 interest. The value of the note was invested toward payment of the First State Bank note which was taken to secure the Smith Hotel. By June the project was reported as accomplished.

With World War II came rationing so any kind of plans the congregation had for improvements to the church had to be put on the backburner.

The last major change in the church building was made around the turn of the century. At that time the corner pulpit was in style and many of the local churches were decorated in that fashion.

It was around 1900 when the pulpit was placed in the southwest corner of the auditorium. The choir loft and baptistry were added at the same time. The old pipe organ, which was in the approximate location of the choir loft, was later replaced by an electric organ, donated in memory of Dan F. Smith and E.J. Frost in 1949.

The first building project of the 1940’s included the redecoration of the church. Repairs were needed on the church building itself in order to preserve it. Such items requiring work were the leaky baptistry that was causing the timbers underneath it to begin to decay; the bricks, windows, etc. that needed painting, and the stained glass windows. A small “shovel-a-day” stove was also needed to heat the water in the baptistry. Each problem was acted upon at the April 24, 1946 meeting.

In September of 1949, Bev Wright announced completion of most of the repair work. He commented that the work just finished was more than ever done during the 20 years he had been pastor.

In October of 1947, the church nursery was first started along with another program. Rev. Wright appointed a building committee composed of trustees and several other appointees.

In January of 1948, it was felt that money should be raised for the project before the building began. Allan Watt suggested that a church property survey be made and that a fund-raising campaign be started.

In October, the building program was reportedly delayed because of the inability to match bricks.

The building committee, in December, was empowered to redecorated the sanctuary and receive bids from contractors at once. The church also approved a motion made by Audrey Peak to dispose of the old pipe organ for $500.

In March of 1949, T.C. Bethel of Jacksonville was named contractor for the addition of the Sunday School rooms and redecoration of the church building. He estimated the total cost, including additional proposals, at close to $20,000.

The church still owed $9,042.80 on the building fund, so upon the acceptance of a motion made by Mrs. James Edmondson, the Board of Trustees borrowed $9,000 from Mrs. Pearl Carlton for one year at three percent interest.

In October and December of 1950, the last payments of indebtedness on the building fund were paid by the Board of Trustees. The building project was completed.

After 29 years of faithful and loyal service, Rev. F.V. Wright tendered his resignation to the church on Sunday, March 25, 1954. He was succeeded by Rev. William Sealock of the Kane Baptist Church.

The Board of Trustees decided in February of 1954 to remodel the balcony into two Sunday School rooms and also to make two such rooms out of the two belfry rooms. Later, upon the request of the new pastor, the lower belfry room was made into the pastor’s study.

Mr. Peoples of Pittsfield was contracted to do the carpentry work. He began in February, agreeing to remodel the rooms at once for $1,200. The balcony floors were lowered to the second level, plate glass sliding windows were placed across the front to keep out the noise and a protective handrail along the windows was installed. The project was completed by May of that year.

In April of 1958, the Men’s Fellowship announced that they would undertake the project of erecting church signs. The shuffle board floor in the Room-For-You Class was announced as finished and ready for use also.

The church celebrated the 100th anniversary of its present church building with special services on Nov. 29, 1959 with a fellowship basket dinner following special services.

A new office was added to the church structure in October of 1960.

It was in the year 1961 that a tornado hit Winchester causing much property damage to the southwestern part of town. There were no casualties. The church building and parsonage were damaged but by the end of the year all needed repairs were completed.

In January 1962, Robert Worrell reported as Chairman of the Building Committee and Superintendent of the Sunday School that he and other members had visited the Grace Baptist Church and the new unit at White Hall and briefly described the buildings and costs and also stated that possibly eight additional class rooms were needed at their church at the present time.

In Jan. 1967, Project Move was introduced and at the May business meeting, Sam Peak, chairman of the building survey committee introduced Leonard McNeil of Church Builders, Inc. who explained the proposed renovation plans. The cost was roughly $120,000 plus cost of mechanical and electrical aspects in the existing building plus cost of air conditioning, if desired.

In September, a secret ballot vote was taken with 42 voting in favor and 52 against. The church spent $4,000 in architectural fees and while Project Move might have died, new plans were later drawn up for the redecoration of the church.

In January of 1968, the Board of Trustees addressed the leaky roof and accepted the estimate of Green Brothers of Manchester in the amount of $3,726.78.

Later on that year, the main auditorium and vestibule were greatly changed. The old floor plan having a corner pulpit was leveled, the pulpit placed at the south end of the auditorium, giving the whole symmetry. The baptistry was relocated and the vestibule redecorated. New pews, carpet, wall decorations and later a piano made the sanctuary a beautiful place to worship.

The whole project took little more than a year to accomplish at a cost of around $50,000. The air conditioning alone was $15,000.

The church rang in the new decade to the sounds of a new organ which was purchased in memory of Lucy Frost by money given in her memory. Approval was given for the purchase of a Carillon with the memorial funds of Mrs. Pauline Moore and Mr. and Mrs. John Moore by Mr. J. Cordell Moore. The carillon was installed in the room formerly used as the pastor’s office. The church decided to have restoration and repairs of the building done by Otis Wolfe of Brighton.

In August of 1986, Gary Dorsey and Gayle McEvers began working on making some additional space for the office by adding a wall and door to the west end of the vestibule. Ralph Baird added some electrical work thus making it possible to move some of the machines to that area, making even more room.

In 1991, the church bought a machine to record the tapes of the sermons to be given to shut-ins.

A major remodeling project was investigated in 1991 by the trustees. They spent much time checking out different companies to redo the tuckpointing of the church. The church voted to accept the bid of Mid-Continental. Unfortunately, the project took longer than expected to complete due to the weather.

The trustees remained busy in 1994, overseeing many projects. The sanctuary and foyer were painted, the kitchen and downstairs ceilings were painted and repairs to the wall were made.

Many items were purchased including a new sound system, new storm door for the parsonage, new additional memorial board, new TV/VCR for the nursery and new front doors for the church that were donated by the Weder family.

New hymnals were purchased from money in the Memorial Fund and the basement and kindergarten area carpets were cleaned.

Several projects were undertaken in 1996 including cleaning the wall and skylight in the sanctuary. Many different items including three new windows in the upstairs of the parsonage, new linoleum in the kitchen utility room and downstairs bathroom, new toilet and new furnace for the parsonage were installed.

A new sidewalk was added on the west side of the church and a new section on the east sidewalk was added and some additional parking spaces were created.

At a Sept. 21, 1997 business meeting, the church voted to explore the possibility of adding on to the existing church building.

The contract with Custom Structures, Inc. of Ashland, was signed on May 17, 1998, to build the new Educational Center. In June, 1998, the church was approved by First State Bank of Winchester for a $400,000 construction loan.

A groundbreaking ceremony was then planned for the summer of 1998, July 12 to be exact with Pastor Brian High welcoming those in attendance.

Work was begun in August of 1998 on the south end of the existing building. The parking lot was relocated to the east side of the building. New tables, chairs, furniture and coat racks were bought to fill the new Educational Center. On May 23, 1999, the building was completed and dedicated.

The new Education and Fellowship Center consisted of a large fellowship hall, new kitchen facility, additional Sunday School classrooms and nursery, elevator, Pastor Study and Secretary Office and restrooms with handicap accessibility.

The beautification of the church continued when new carpet was installed in the sanctuary in August of 1999 by a church member in memory of a family member. In October, a new granite name plate was put on the bulletin board on the west side of the church.

In September, 1999, new silverware was purchased to use for meals prepared and served in the new Fellowship Hall. September was also the month in which First Baptist Church began to hear those three little words “You’ve Got Mail” as they went online and established an e-mail address.