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Green River Union Meeting House
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Green River Union Meeting House
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Introduction Religion fulfilled spiritual and social needs of early Warren Countians. Ministers generally traveled from church to church to preach the gospel. Some congregations shared church buildings. Meetinghouses could be used by "union churches" (congregations of different denominations meeting together), more than one denominational congregation meeting separately, and for school and public gatherings. Prior to the Civil War, most African-Americans worshipped with whites. After the war they established separate churches.
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The first church in the county probably was the Old Union Church established in the mid-1790s near what is now the Allen-Warren County line. In 1804 nine people organized the Providence Knob Church near present day Rockfield. In 1814 the original Green River Union Meetinghouse near Richardsville was founded. Descendants of French Huguenots built the 1845 structure for Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist worship. It is the only Huguenot National Landmark in Kentucky. Mt. Olivet Cumberland Presbyterian Church was founded in the early part of the nineteenth century near Plum Springs. In 1845 local brick masons Veet Patillo and C. A. Carter built the present structure. Reverand Jesse Grider Smith helped to organize the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Bowling Green. |
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African-Americans worshipped with whites prior to the Civil War but were relegated to segregated areas in the sanctuary. One early black Bowling Green church was the African Baptist Church. Formed in 1838, the congregation bought land and built a meetinghouse in 1844. In 1872 the name was changed to the First Colored Baptist Church. Fire destroyed its 1873 structure in 1898. Two years later the group constructed the present building at Fourth and State streets. Today the church is known as State Street Baptist. |
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Updated December 8, 2000 Created by Donna Parker with contribution from Sandy Staebell, Laura Harper Lee, Lynne Ferguson and Jon Kay. Send comments to KyMus@wku.edu URL: http://www.wku.edu/Library/onlinexh/rrr1/Pages/Mainpages/religion.html |
