The Church on Savannah Avenue
Article # 15.
During the years when our Church was housed at the Savannah Avenue location, the Statesboro Presbyterian Church made a great deal of progress along "our walk of Faith".
Construction of the church building began very quickly after a fire destroyed the church building on Broad Street in 1940. Since this was the right at the beginning of the World War II era, building at that time must have presented many difficulties.
When the congregation moved into their new facilities, there was a great deal of work to do to replace lost or fire damaged property. Then the war came along, probably slowing everything down with so many of the men leaving. Like everyone else in the United States at that time, the Church had to "re-use, make-do or do without".
Perhaps the Pulpit Bible in the Broad Street Church was destroyed in the fire, because a new Pulpit Bible was purchased in 1944.
There were problems trying to keep the music program going. Horace McDougald had been the organist for a time, until illness caused him to give up that work. Ronald Neil, Chairman of the College Division of Music expressed willingness to direct the choir in 1944. And in 1945, Jack and Emily Broucek united with the church. Later on, Dr. Broucek played the organ and Emily sang in the choir. Then in 1951, Dr. Broucek became the organist and music director and served the church in that way until his retirement in 1986.
Little by little, necessary equipment was purchased. It was a very important happening when the church purchased a mimeograph machine in 1946.
And also in 1946, WWNS Radio invited the church to use that facility to broadcast church services. This caused quite a lot of discussion. The session voted on this and agreed to try the service for one year. One Elder felt "moved" to refrain from voting and offered in explanation of his position that, "while he was whole-heartedly in support of any move which would advance the usefulness of the church, he was apprehensive lest the proposal under discussion might contribute to a decrease rather than an increase in church attendance." today 58 years later, we are still "on the air" every third Sunday.
In 1948, a new organ was obtained and dedicated in February of that year. That organ 20 years later, was installed in our present facility in 1967. However, it was not very long before funds were being raise for a new "state of the art" electric organ which we still use today.
In 1959, the Session considered plans for establishing a Christian School. They even chose the name of "The John Knox Day School, Inc." for this new venture. A great deal of study and research was done, with Elders visiting two private schools in Savannah for information. However, after a year of study, talks with architects, plans being drawn up for educational buildings, lawyers drawing up articles of incorporation, etc., plans were dropped in 1960 due to a lack of prospective students.
There were many problems with the facility on Savannah Avenue, a leaky basement being one of the most aggravating. Also a lack of space for parking was a very large problem.
In the 1950's, a new manse was constructed on what had been the Church parking lot. The old Manse had been converted to the Church School. The space in the basement of the main building was still needed, but dampness and seepage of water remained a problem.
Finally, in about 1961, the Session began to study the possibility of building a new facility. Even though the church had purchased property on Crescent Drive, after much study it was concluded that it would not be feasible to build in the Savannah Avenue location.
Serious study began in 1963 to find a new location for Statesboro Presbyterian Church. Also, during this time period, the church was given a new name, First Presbyterian Church of Statesboro. By 1964, a site had been found, and the Savannah Avenue property (except for the Manse) was sold to The Church of Christ. A piece of land (8.9 acres) on Fair Road was purchased from Mrs. Wallis Cobb for $2000 per acre.
There is quite an interesting story connected with the construction of our Fair Road facility -- but that story can wait for another chapter of "The History Channel".
Dot Odom, FPC Historian