The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, April 28, 1939, Image 3
TWO AERIAL VIEWS OP THE CITY OF NEWBERRY
LUTHERAN CONGREGATION DATES
FROM 1853
First steps taken toward es
tablishment of a Lutheran church in
Newberry began in 1852 by Rev. T.
S. Boinest who was then pastor of
Bethlehem church at Pomaria. In
the history of the Lutheran Synod
of South Carolina we find the fol
lowing relating to the erection of a
church at Newberry: “At that time
the town had a population of about
400 and quite a number of Luth
eran families had located there and
were without a convenient church
home.”
A service was held in the old
court houre on Sunday, July 10, 1853,
with Mr. Boinest preaching to a very
large congregation. At this time
a local Lutheran organization was
effected with the enrollment of 21
members. The members readily re
sponded with subscriptions and cash
to erect a building of worship and
exactly one month after organiza
tion, August 10, 1853, the corner
stone was laid with fitting exer
cises on a site facing Boundary
street midway between the termini
of Nance street and McKibben
street. This frist church was known
as Luther Chapel.
On December 30, 1853, the congre
gation was chartered as “the Evan
gelical Lutheran church at Newber
ry, by the name of Luther Chapel.”
Rev. Boinest became the first pas
tor and the church was completed
the first of December of 1854 and
dedicated on the 10th of that month.
The church was a frame stucture,
Gothic in style of architecture, and
of superior workmanship, the cost
being $4,000.
Resigning as pastor of Luther
Chapel in 1866, Mr. Boinest was
succeeded by Rev. William Berley,
who held the pastorate two years.
Following Mr. Berley was Rev. M.
Whittle, who served temporarily in
.connection with his professorship at
Newberry college.
Rev. Theophilus Stork, D. D., was
pastor in 1859 serving until ’60 in
connection with his presidency at
Newberry college and was assisted
by Rev. J. A. Brown, D. D., also of
the college faculty. Both Dr. Stork
and Dr. Brown left the city in the
spring of 1861 going North and for
a short time Rev. J.- P. Margaret
served the church as pastor along
with his work at a nearby church.
In May of 1861, Rev. J. P. Smelt-
zer, president of Newberry college
during the perilous war days, began
his service as pastor of the Newber
ry Lutheran church and served until
the removal of the college to Wal-
halla in November 1868.
For a year a vacancy existed in
the church and the Lutherans allow
ed the Episcopalians of the town to
use their church building once a
month (the Episcopal church hav
ing been runined by disuse during
the Confederate War) until May 24,
1869 when the building was struck
by lightning in a thunderstorm and
rendered unfit for services. How
ever the church was immediately re
paired.
Rev. Jacob Hawkins became pastor
in September, 1869, to serve less
than one year. He was followed by
Rev. H. S. Wingard who was install
ed on January 15, 1871, serving un
til the fall of ’72. For a brief
while the Lutheran pulpit was
again vacant.
Rev. H. W. Kuhns of Omaha, Ne
braska, took charge in February,
1873. Under his leadership the con
gregation grew and thrived. The
membership had grown from 64 in
1873 to 160 when he resigned in
1878. Supplies filled the pulpit un
til March of 1879 when Rev. S. P.
Hughes became pastor until Nov
ember 1881.
Later pastors included the fol
lowing: Rev. J. Steck, D. D., 1882-
83; Rev. A. B. McMackin, 1885-87;
Rev. W. C. Schaeffer, D. D., 1887-
92; Rev. Junius-B. Fox, Ph. D., 1893-
99. Vacancies that occured between
pastors from 1884 to 1895 were fill
ed by Rev. eorge W. Holland and A.
G. Voight, the former, the president
of Newberry college and the latter,
the seminary professor.
While Dr. Schaeffer was pastor a
movement was begun to build a bet
ter house of worship and the matter
of changing the location of the
church also came up. It was finally
decided in 1895 to secure an eligible
lot bounded by Boundary, Wilson,
and Johnstone streets, where the
present building now stands. The
cornerstone of the present building
was laid October 20, 1896 during
the pastorate of Dr. Fox. The new
church, costing $14,500 was occu
pied on the first Sunday in October,
1897. With the beginning of a new
century, a n offering was made by the
congregation of $4,000 at a midnight
service, December 31, 1899, to cancel
the debt of $5,000 on the new church.
The other $1,000 was raised in
1903 and the church was dedicated
Sunday, February 28, 1904 during
the celebration of the semi-centennial
anniversary of the congregation.
The membership at that time was
310.
When the new church was occu
pied, Dr. M. G. G. Scherer, D. D.,
was pastor. He served from August
1, 1899 to 1901. Rev. W. L. Sea-
brook became pastor in the spring
of 1902 and served until February
1, 1907. Under his ministry a par
sonage was erected at a cost of
$4,000. Rev. Edward Fulenwider
took charge March 9, 1908 and con
tinued until October 24, 1920.
Rev. C. A. Freed, D. D., took
charge of the Lutheran Church of
the Redeemer April 18, 1921. In a
letter dated May 4, 1925, Dr. Freed
tendered his resignation as pastor
of the church to become effective
June 30. Dr. R. A. Goodman was
named supply pastor until another
minister could be selected.
On August 16, 1925 at a congre
gational meeting Dr. J. C. Peery was
nominated and elected pastor of
County Pioneered
In Demonstration
Work
Seeking to reach and teach the
girls and wife of the farmer, home
demonstration work began in New
berry county in January of 1914 un
der Miss Fannie Holloway. The
work at first consisted solely of
teaching gardening to the girls. The
first clubs were known as the “To
mato Clubs”. Miss Holloway serv
ed only one year.
In 1915 Miss Willie Mae Wise was
appointed demonstration agent. Un
der her leadership, the organization
of women’s clubs began. During the
World War when there was a great
need for garden vegetables, two
emergency agents were named to
assist Miss Wise—Miss Ethel Counts,
present home demonstration agent,
the Church of the Redeemer. On
September 27, Dr. Peery was install
ed as pastor.
During July of 1930, Dr. Peery
was stricken by an illness which
rendered him incapable of perform
ing his duties and the church coun
cil selected Dr. Goodman to supply
again. On December 31, 1930, Dr.
Peery’s resignation became effective.
Rev. E. B. Keisler was called to
be pastor in July of 1931 and the
first sermon of his pastorate was
preached on the first Sunday in
September, 1931, since which time he
has served the church faithfully and
well.
During 1923 the church building
was vastly improved by remodelling
which consisted of an annex in order
to enlarge the seating capacity of
the auditorium and provide modern
and adequate rooms for the Sunday
school. The remodelling was made
necessary by the large increase in
church and Sunday school member
ship. The annex cost $36,000.
The present church membership is
785. There are enrolled 467 in the
^unday^school^^^^^^^^^^^^
in the county and Mrs. Mary P. Fant
in the city.
When the War ended, however,
Miss Wise continued to carry on the
work by herself until her resignation
in 1920.
Mrs. Bessie Campbell followed
Miss Wise serving for one year. The
home demonstration office was in
Prosperity until Mrs. Campbell be
came agent and it was then that the
office was moved to Newberry. After
Mrs. Campbell, Miss Marion Farrish
became agent, serving less than a
year.
Mrs. Daisy Denning was appointed
the next county demonstration agent.
After serving three years she resign
ed the end of 1924.
Following her service in the coun
ty during the War Miss Ethel Counts
went to Oconee county as home de
monstration agent. When Mrs. Den
ning resigned Miss Counts was ask
ed to return to the county to carry
on the capable work she had begun
under Miss Wise. Miss Counts ac
cepted the appointment, coming to
Newberry in January of 1925. Since
that time she has served continually
as Newberry’s agent. Under her
leadership, home demonstration work
has made such growth that today
there are women’s clubs and girls
clubs in every community of the
county.
When the demonstration office was
moved to Newberry it was located in
the same building with the Chamber
of Commerce, the building on the
corner of College and Friend streets,
now occupied by WP^t officials. When
the Chamber of Commerce office was
changed to its present location in the
old court house, the home demonstra
tion agent and the county agent
made their offices there. Additional
space w as needed, however, when the
government placed the AAA program
under county agents so all offices
were moved to where they are now
situated on Caldwell street.
Under Miss Counts’ direct super
vision are 22 home demonstration
clubs in the county in which there
are around 650 members. The clubs
meet monthly. In 1922 the County
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
HAS LONG HISTORY
St. Luke’s church on the corner of
Main and Calhoun streets is the only
Episcopal church in the county. It
was organized in 1854-55 and has
always had a very small member
ship.
St. Luke’s was consecrated by
Bishop T. F. Davis, August 26, 1855,
the first officers being _ E. S. Bailey,
and Stiles Hurd, wardens; Norman
Bronson, William B. D’Oyley, Will
iam C. Johnson, C. H. Kingsmore,
and Albert C. Garlington, vestry. The
first Episcopal missionary to New
berry was Rev. R. S. Seely, in 1845,
and the first minister officiating at.
St. Luke’s was Rev. E. T. Walker, in
1855.
Today services are held in St.
Luke’s on the first and third Sun
days of each month with the Rev. A.
G. B. Bennett of Columbia officiating.
The membership is 15.
The church is governed by the fol
lowing officers: Tom Keitt, senior
deacon; Professor W. H. Gaver,
junior deacon; Gus M. Holm, treas
urer; Hooper Skardon, secretary.
France will issue a series of
stamps commemorating the 150th an
niversary of the French revolution
which will depict important events
in French history.
Council of Farm Women of Newberry
county was organized. The council
consists of all members of demon
stration clubs and meets semi-an
nually. Mrs. C. A. Matthews was
elected president when the Council
was formed. Mrs. D. S. Halfacre is
president today.
Over 300 girls are enrolled in the
16 Girls 4-H Clubs of the county.
These clubs, also under supervision
of Miss Counts, meet monthly during
the school year. Annually the Girls
4-H Clubs and the Boys 4-H Clubs
of the county meet in Newberry as
a county council.
METHODISM HERE
OVER A_CENTURY
Central Methodist church was or
ganized in 1833 and among the first
members of the church we find Philip
Schopert, Mrs. Martha Turner, Mrs.
Precious Schell, Daniel Boozer,
Thomas Pratt, Jr., Josiah Bishop, Dr.
George F. Epps, Dr. Peter Moon,
Gen. K. H. Kinard, Richard C. Chap
man, Robert Moorman, Andrew M.
Wicker, Dr. P. B. Ruff, and Thomas
F. Greneker. Other family names in
cluded on the first church roll were
the following: Blease; Bynum, Bis
hop, Chapman, Cook, Caldwell,
Cromer, Evans, Eddy, Epting, Fair,
Fant, Greneker, Gilder, Goodman,
Hornsby, Johnson, Jones, Kinard,
Lane, Livingstone, Langford, Lake,
Moorman, Moore, Metts, Maybin, Mc-
Whirter, Merchant, Pope, Pitts, Rus
sell, Riser, Salter, Suber, Shockley
Summers, Taylor, Tarrant, Williams,
Wright, White, Wallace, Welch and
Wicker.
A church building was erected in
1883 and was used up until the new
century. However, large improve
ments were made in this first church
in 1873.
- As early as 1890 a fund was be
gun for the erection of a new brick
church and in 1901 the Central
Methodist church that now stands on
the corner of Caldwell and John
stone streets was completed. This
building has not undergone any
changes externally. The Sunday
school building, just at the rear of
the church, known as the Mary Fran
ces Wright Memorial building, was
erected in 1932 and the brick par
sonage on Caldwell street was first
occupied in 1933.
Central church has had a large
number of pastors, none of them
serving over four years while many
were here for only two years. The
present pastor is the Rev. H. O.
Chambers,
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