You are now standing in front of the Wallingford Presbyterian Church. First you’ll notice the fresh scent of flowers in a very colorful garden in the front of a beautiful brick building with a cross. There is a small basketball court with a hoop hanging on the wall in the parking lot. When you enter the chapel, you’ll smell old bibles stuffed into slots in the back of the pews. The pews are in rows that form a semicircle around a podium. On Sundays you’ll smell the scent of smooth candles burning and food cooking in the kitchen downstairs. You’ll hear organ music and if you listen closely you’ll hear the creaking noise of the floor and the slapping sound of the swinging doors.
If you attended the Presbyterian Church in the 1920s as Charlotte Hill did, you would have heard the bell ringing on Sundays and seen neighbors running to the church.
Charlotte Hill: It was a walking distance from the church…. Everybody had a car… it was a family church.
The board of missions organized Wallingford Presbyterian Church on October 6, 1889. In 1890 there were 10 active members and 42 children in Sunday school. Charlotte Hill, “Well…. I’, almost as old as the church. Ha-ha, the church was built in 1915 which in next year will be 90 years.”
In 1915, they moved into their new building on 42nd and Ashworth. The new building was dedicated on May 30, 1915. Rowland T. Edwards was chosen as a pastor and served until March 1930. From 1917 until 1934, they were known as the Whitman Memorial Federated Church. Rowland was responsible for the church’s population growth between these years (1900 to 1950.) These days the congregation is smaller, as Charlotte remembers.
Charlotte Hill: ” there were about 150 people that attended that church, now there’s only 60-80”
During these years the pastors didn’t get paid that much but now they do.
Charlotte Hill: “ before, the pastors got fifty dollars….now they get 3,000 dollars plus a house…”
Even with the small attendance the Church is still an active community. They have picnics, festivals, dinners, and parties. Keep an eye out for their posters and announcements.