Our History

Lynchburg had been a chartered Virginia town for less than 50 years when “In a letter written in March 1830, Elijah Fletcher noted that ‘the bells have just rung for church, of which we have a goodly number for such a small place.’ He counted seven, including the Quaker meeting-house. Five years later, Joseph Martin noted eight, all of which he judged to be “quite plain; 1 or 2 only having any pretensions to architectural propriety or ornament.'”

“The additional church counted by Martin was the Second Presbyterian. …On April 24, 1830, twenty members of Lynchburg’s First Presbyterian Church petitioned the Presbytery of West Hanover ‘to be organized into a separate congregation.’ The new congregation elected ‘to be known by the style of the Second Presbyterian Church of Lynchburg.'”

‘Meeting first in the Mason’s Hall, the group soon erected a simple frame church on the northeastern side of Main Street between Sixth and Seventh streets. It served them only slightly more than twenty years, and its memory has been kept alive chiefly through an essay written by George Bagby. …’the old church in its prime’ had ‘white palings in front enclosing a little yard, green with a patch of sward on either side, and a little paper mulberry tree in the center of each patch.'”

Nostalgia for the simple surrounding of the little church played its part (no illustration or photograph is known to exist), yet “On August 30, 1850, the Second Presbyterian Church purchased a lot at the east corner of Ninth and Church streets for $4,537.50. This flourishing congregation had also outgrown its small first church, which was sold to the cabinetmakers Folkes and Winston”.

William Ellison was chosen as architect. “By October 9, 1852, when the church was almost complete, payments amounted to $17,455.91, including the architect’s fees. By October 21, the church was sufficiently finished to house a meeting of the Synod of Virginia.”

‘Even before construction was begun, William Ellison had made arrangements for a pipe organ. In April 1851, he was billed by Lewis D. Crenshaw, a Richmond agent, for ’28 packages containing an organ,” which was to be furnished by the firm of O. R. Whiting and shipped from Boston on the “boats Swan and Venture.’ It was not until December 1852, however, that Mr. Crenshaw received word that the organ had left Boston on the ‘good schooner called the Mercy Taylor,’ bound for Richmond.'”

The sentiment at the time was that Second Presbyterian Church was the “‘handsomest in the city’. …Whether or not it was the handsomest of Lynchburg’s antebellum churches, it was indeed the showiest, and its prominent location made it by far the most visible, and the most frequently illustrated. It was built of brick, with stone trim, and covered with a standing-seam metal roof. …Ellison had provided the Episcopalians with a Perpendicular Gothic church, but in his design for the Presbyterians he harkened back to an earlier idiom. With its lancet windows, high-pitched roof, and double towers, it was more akin to the thirteenth-century Early English Gothic style.

‘The focal point of the interior was the organ, whose ranks of pipes framed by a Gothic arch behind the central pulpit absolutely dominated the auditorium. Below, and in front of the pulpit, was the communion table…both side and rear balconies supplemented the seating provided on the main floor.”

The church changed its name to Westminster in 1893 and was in use in 1926, the longest of any of the city’s mid-19 century churches.

“On April 15, 1923, Westminster Church voted to merge with the Floyd Street Presbyterian Church, which it had established as the West End Chapel, [later changing the name as a separate congregation] and on November 1, 1925, the church authorized the sale of the church property for $50,000. The last service was held in the old building on March 14, 1926, and ‘after the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, the congregation went quietly out.’ For a brief time the old church served as a postal annex but was soon demolished to make way for a new federal building.”

“The congregation of Westminster Presbyterian Church…moved to their new building at Eleventh and Floyd streets. There had been an earlier church at the new site, the Floyd Street Presbyterian Church, originally the first College Hill Baptist Church. That structure had been demolished.”

“Designed by Walter Crowe, Westminster Church is in the [true] Perpendicular Gothic style…Westminster has precious little external decoration. Its basic lines and large window areas — with vertical mullions and flattened Tudor arches — suffice to equate it with the style from which its inspiration is drawn. It is the distilled essence of its prototype, not an imitation. One very non-English feature of the church is the copper fleche set midway astride the ridge of the sanctuary roof. More French than English in derivation, its slender, vertical profile nevertheless seems the perfect toil tor the broad, horizontal lines of the church below….In October 1927, Westminster joined the select group of Lynchburg’s buildings that have been illustrated in national architectural journals, when photographs and a sketch plan were published in Architectural Forum.”

On either side are broad arches separating the nave from the aisles, while above is the clerestory. A rear balcony is over the narthex, and the shallow chancel is centered with a canopied bench for the minister and elders.”

Worship in Old Westminster Church Building Ends with Service Today

“When service has been concluded this morning in Westminster Presbyterian Church and the doors, worship in the building will have been ended for all time. The end will come after continuous occupation of the building since October 1852, when the small congregation, then known as Second Presbyterian Church, occupied it after having worshipped in several other buildings since organization May 19, 1830 by Hanover Presbytery, The congregation then consisted of six elders and eighteen members.

Next Sunday when this congregation, merged with that of Floyd Street Presbyterian Church, holds its first services in the new structure recently completed at the corn er of Floyd and Eleventh Streets, a new chapter in the life history of the two congregations will be opened. They will begin it without a pastor, though one has been called.

Second Presbyterian Church became Westminster Presbyterian when Montgomery Presbytery, meeting in Fincastle on April 19, 1893, granted the request for the change of name, which was made during the incumbency of Dr. R. H. Fleming, who preceded Dr. Wallace T. Palmer, the last pastor, who went to Clarksburg October 1, 1925.

In January 1891, a colony of thirty-three members from the Second Presbyterian Church, among them an elder and two deacons, was organized by Montgomery Presbytery into the West End Church. In 1898, the congregation purchased the church on Floyd and Eleventh streets, formerly owned by the College Hill Baptist Church, and have since worshipped there. Later the name was changed to Floyd Street and so continued until last year…”

New Westminster Church to Open Sunday

“Tomorrow will mark the consummation of the movement fostered by Presbyterians of Lynchburg, endorsed and entered into by all of the churches of this denomination in the city.

The new Westminster Church, located at Floyd and Eleventh streets, will be formally opened tomorrow morning at 11 o’clock; at which time Dr. J. G. McAllister, of Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, will deliver the sermon.

The building, which was designed by and executed under the supervision of Clarke & Crowe, local architects, has been the subject of much interest. This interest has undoubtedly been due to the comprehensiveness of its plan, and the unusual character of its architectural treatment.

While from the standpoint of facilities provided, it is most modern in all its appointments, yet in the sympathetic manner in which it is designed there is a spirit of old-world atmosphere that pervades its whole architectural expressions.

The general treatment throughout is in fourteenth century gothic, there being a frank attempt to imbue a very modern and utilitarian plant with spiritual appeal.”

First Services in New Edifice at Eleventh and Floyd Streets Held Sunday

“An overflow congregation was present at the new Westminster Presbyterian Church, corner Floyd and Eleventh streets, Sunday morning when the initial sermon was delivered by Rev. Dr. J. Gray McAllister, professor of Biblical literature, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond.

Dr. McAllister’s subject was “Influence” and his text was from Romans 14:7-8: “For none of us liveth to himself and none dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are theLord’s.”

At the evening service the congregation of Rivermont Presbyterian Church worshipped with the Westminster congregation.

Many remarks on the dignity and beauty of the new structure were heard…”

Like many inner-city churches across the nation, Westminster saw membership grow to a peak of seven hundred and fifty persons until in the 1960s and 70s and since, as a neighborhood church on the edge of the inner city, sociological changes in the nation and cities had a dramatic effect upon membership as people began to move into suburbia.

Westminster faced new challenges and ministries amidst a dwindling membership, yet in 1977 Westminster embarked upon extensive renovations costing approximately $200,000. In five years the work had been completely retired. The church continued to increase her ministry to the inner city, and to benevolent and missionary causes faithful to God’s love and compassion for all persons in the community, and to its members, young and old alike.

Over the decades the congregation instituted Timothy Club, an extensive six week summer program for the children was offered allowing Bible study, recreation, arts and crafts, field trips, and camping experiences. In 1982 this program was extended to teach the children during the school year, an afternoon tutorial known as Second Timothy. This ministry served several generations.

The congregation was instrumental in establishing an organization of 14 churches known as Churches for Urban Ministry. The purpose of the organization was to meet the needs of those persons within the inner city, including a food pantry. Society’s needs change over time, but during the many years of its existence, the program’s offices were housed at Westminster.

For decades Westminster housed and supported the oldest Boy Scout Troop in the City of Lynchburg, Troop No. 1, as well as furnishing meeting rooms for three Girl Scout Troops.

In the 1970s, Westminster was the first Presbyterian congregation in the denomination to create a Church Nurse position to oversee a service to its members with regular health checks and programs for exercise and well-being.

The Free Clinic, a much needed health mission to the community, staffed by volunteer workers and the city’s doctors, was housed in Westminster’s educational building, with support from the mission budget, for some years until its services grew to the point that additional space and a permanent Main Street building was needed for operations.

For a period of years an adult literacy program was held in church facilities, staffed by community and member volunteers.

Westminster continues to support community missions in its building spaces. Blessing Place began in a frigid winter in 2018 by giving away donated coats to children and adults in the College Hill neighborhood. Now twice a month on Saturdays, Blessing Place is open to the public with select household items, decorative items, linens, shoes, small appliances, furniture and other items for women, men and children. In addition to the “gently priced” items, Blessing Place offers a meal or specialty item at no charge and a Free Give Away area of miscellaneous items. Blessing Place and Westminster offer community events such as the Annual Thanksgiving Community Fellowship Dinner in November.