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First Baptist Church in Forest City is the oldest institution in Forest City and on Sunday, Oct. 22, the church will celebrate its heritage, recalling its 175 years of history.
A special service will be held at 11am followed by lunch at noon. Additional music and presentations will follow the luncheon. A tree will be planted on the lawn at approximately 1pm.
Among special guests will be representatives from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Green River Baptist Association, of which First Baptist is a member.
During the last year, the church has invited all the previous ministers to visit and to lead in the worship service.
Much of the history of the church was recorded decades ago by those in the church and community.
The late Virginia Rucker wrote much of the history when the church celebrated the 143rd anniversary. Rucker, credited the late Betty Jo Carpenter for her compilation of some of the history using old records and photos, 32 years ago.
Their accounts of the history of the church are described below.
The Church was organized in 1848, before there was a town and three years after the Southern Baptist Convention, made up of seven states, was formed in Augusta, Ga.
The founding of the church began after 17 Baptists met at the home of John Bostick, not far from the church building located on Main Street today. Bostick also built the first house in the area in 1835.
Bostick, who later had three family members to become missionaries, was the first deacon at the new church and William Harrill, a blacksmith and cabinet-maker and brother of Cynthia Harrill Bostick, was the first pastor. His salary for the first year was $8.37.
The first church was made of logs and built on a lot on what is now Vance Street and had a cemetery containing graves dating back to the 1850s. The church was named Cool Springs for two springs near the property.
When the railroad was constructed and blocked access to the church, a frame building was erected in 1867 on the site that is occupied by the flagpole in Cool Springs Cemetery.
The town of Burnt Chimney, predecessor to Forest City, was six years old and the church had a membership of 80.
In 1887 the town's name was officially changed to Forest City and two years later the church moved from the cemetery site to the corner of West Main and Church Streets.
There a brick church was constructed and was the first brick building in Forest City. There were 131 members of Cool Springs Baptist Church who walked as a body to the new church, with its new name Forest City Baptist Church.
By 1913, the church was ready for a larger building and on Feb. 21, 1915, the congregation moved into its current building and baptized 57 new members. Two years later Main Street was paved.
When Florence Baptist Church was organized in 1922, Forest City Baptist became First Baptist.
In 1923 a parsonage was built on the lot where the old church had stood. It was used as a home for pastors and later as a church office.
By 1925, an educational building was erected with the financial help of J.F. Alexander and in 1926, a loan from Jefferson Standard Insurance Company.
Members moved over into Alexander Memorial Building in 1927. Shortly afterwards, the country was in a Depression and the mortgage was not paid off until 1943.
Other buildings and improvement came after the Depression. The interior was extensively remodeled in 1955 and additional land was acquired for parking lots.
In 1956 a new chapel building and church office were completed and by 1980 renovations had been made to the education and chapel buildings and construction on a fellowship hall and mall were finished.
Biographical & Historical Note: Forest City First Baptist Church was constituted in Forest City December 1848 as Cool Springs. It was renamed Forest City Baptist Church in 1889. This church has been a member of Green River & Sandy Run (1890-present) Baptist associations.
First Baptist Church Pastors Through The Years:
Rev. William Harrill, 1848-1867
Rev. J.H. Yarboro, (Yarborough) 1867-1869, 1881-1883, 1889-1890
Rev. A. McMahan, 1869-1871, 1874-1875
Rev. T. B. Justice, 1871-1874
Rev. H. D. Harrill, 1875-1876
Rev. Wade Hill, 1876-1879
Rev. A. L. Stough,1879-1881
Rev. G. W. Rollins,1883-1884, 1890-891
Rev. C. B. Justice, 1884-885, 1900-1901
Rev. T. Bright, 1885-1889
Rev. F. C. Hickson,1891-892, 1895-1900
Rev. Z. D. Harrill,1892-1895
Rev. M. M. Landrum,1901-1903
Rev. R. A. Hedgepath,1903-1904
Rev. Walter Wilson, 1905-1906
Rev. J. Q. Adams, 1906-1911, 1912-919
Rev. J. M. Hamrick, 1911-1912
Rev. S. N. Watson, 1919-1922
Rev. O. L. Stringfield, 1922-923
Dr. W. A. Ayers, 1923-1943
Interim Rev. G. L. Royster, 1941-1942
Interim Rev. R. A. McFarland, 1943-1944
Rev. W. E. Pettit, 1944-1947
Interim Rev. Wilson Padgett, 1947
Dr. H. H. Stembridge. Jr. 1947-1956
Interim Dr. J. Stephen Morrisett, 1956-1957, Feb.-July 1962
Rev. Hoke Coon, 1957-1962
Rev. Elwood Orr, 1962-1967
Rev. Dillard Mynatt, 1967-1978, 1991
Interim Rev. Albert Young, 1978-1980
Rev. Jack McGuire, 1980-1982
Interim Rev. Walter E. Boone, 1983
Interim Dr. Archie Ellis, 1983
Dr. F. Thomas Jenkins, 1983-1991
Dr. L. Joey Faucette, 1992-1998
Interim Dr. Bobby Morrow, 1998-1999, 2014
Dr. Barry Keys, 1999-2014
Interim Rev. Billy Honeycutt, 2014-2015
Dr. Garin Hill, Sept. 2015-present
Other interesting tidbits:
• John Bostick's sale of land for a token $10 provided the site for the church, he helped hew logs and build the structure;
• When the brick church was being built, lack of funds halted the process and Sheriff John B. Blanton mortgaged one of his farms to provide funds to complete the building; he lost the farm.
• Second building additional land donated by R.M. Harrill and Mills H. Flack;
• Rev. J.H. Yarborough, served as pastor three times and donated land for the first brick church;
• Dr. G.F. Young, first mayor of Forest City, and his son-in-law, J.F. Alexander donated land where the current church and educational building are today.
• Brick for that first building was handmade by Phate Hardin at his brickyard that is now Valleyview Drive. He and brothers, Joe and George, laid the brick.
• A person could be censured by the church (1920) for drinking, dancing, bearing false witness, lying or using profanity; Exception was the wine for communion, for which they paid Z.M. McKinney 40 cents;
• For more than 50 years, Mrs. Mamie Wilkie Meares served on the communion committee and baked the unleavened bread;
• Baptisms were at Second Road River at the home of Brother Billy Martin, off Cherry Mountain Street.
• Sister Beulah Harrill was first organist;
• Minutes show in 1899 the church had 245 members; brothers and sisters who worked at the mill were excused from Saturday services; later Saturday services were abolished.
• 17 Baptists met at the home of John Bostick
