A BRIEF HISTORY OF SUMMERVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

A record of more than 300 years of Christian service

In 1696, members of a Puritan (Separatist) colony in Dorchester, Massachusetts, received a land grant of 4,050 acres in the new colony of Carolina to establish an independent Congregational Church and community. The site selected was approximately eighteen miles up the Ashley River from Charles Town and was also named Dorchester.

The settlers, led by the Reverend Joseph Lord, arrived on February 2, 1696, and records indicate that by 1700 they had replaced a wooden structure with a brick church and named it the White Meeting House. Perhaps the name of this new meeting house was selected to honor the Reverend John White, the patriarch of the separatist movement and native of Dorchester, England.

At first the church and community grew and prospered. However, with the opening of new roads, the river trade on the Upper Ashley River began to decline and in 1753 many church members migrated to the town of Midway in the new colony of Georgia. The White Meeting House was burned by the British in 1778 but rebuilt after the end of the Revolutionary War. The population of Dorchester continued to dwindle with a shift of movement to an area which later became the town of Summerville. In 1831 a new church building was erected in Summerville for use during the summer season while the White Meeting House continued to be used during the winter months, the time when many members resided at their plantations. The arrival of the railroad in Summerville further fueled the decline of the diminishing Dorchester community and by 1859 all remaining members of the Congregationalist White Meeting House were enrolled as members of the Summerville Presbyterian Church. The old White Meeting House continued to be used on special occasions until the devastating earthquake of 1886 destroyed it. The Summerville Presbyterian Church officially obtained all property of the Dorchester White Meeting House and its cemetery, by the actions of the South Carolina legislature, in 1882.

By 1894 the building in which Summerville Presbyterians had worshipped since 1831 had fallen into disrepair and damages from the 1886 earthquake had made the building unsafe. Under the leadership of Reverend Henry Gilland and ruling elder Oscar E. Johnson, the congregation of sixty-six members undertook the formidable task of building our present sanctuary. Although it was the worst of economic times and they were few in number, these members had "great faith" and unrelenting determination. The new building was dedicated in December of 1895. The church bell, a gift of Mrs. E.B. Monroe of Tarrytown, New York, was presented to the church in 1898.

Nearly half a century passed before the sounds of more construction were heard on this property. However, the last half of the 20th century was filled with a burst of growth and construction. In 1945 and 1953 the Wheler Building and the Spann building respectively were constructed to provide Sunday School rooms. In 1965 the Educational Building was built with a fellowship hall and kitchen. The exterior and interior of the sanctuary were refurbished in 1980. As the close of the 20th century neared, a multipurpose fellowship hall with stage, commercial kitchen and gymnasium was completed and dedicated in 1997. In this building is a stone threshold from the old White Meeting House of Dorchester.

The dawn of the 21st century saw Summerville Presbyterians planning, gathering funds and constructing a new office building on the south corner of the church property, thus completing the present Summerville Presbyterian Church complex

This short history of the Summerville Presbyterian Church is, at first glance, a historical chronicle of geographical change and physical growth spanning more than three centuries. At second glance, one cannot but come away with an awe inspiring appreciation of the lives of these people from colonial times to the present day that speaks so loudly of their spiritual tie to the Almighty and their dedication and unwavering determination to further the work of Christ and His Church.