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LAFAYETTE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

In 1836, residents of the town then called Chattooga organized a Presbyterian Church. The two white and two African-American residents held their meetings in the Baptist and Methodist churches and in Chattooga Academy, also called John B. Gordon Hall. The pastor was Reverend William Quillan.

The congregation petitioned the presbytery to change the name to LaFayette Presbyterian Church after the town had changed its name to LaFayette. The church met in various buildings until 1848 when a building was built north of the Square to house the congregation. Amos Wellborn and his son donated 5,000 bricks for the church’s construction. Wellborn’s slaves made the bricks, which were hauled by ox cart from his Rock Spring farm. The original building had a bell tower and slave gallery. The church was one of the few churches that accepted slaves as members.

The church was used as a hospital during the June 24, 1864, Battle of LaFayette. Union doctors treated Confederate and Union soldiers. Doctors placed long tables inside the double doors of the building and laid planks over the pews to create crude beds and operating tables.

In 1883, the church was repaired, slave gallery removed and a vestibule added. The church’s appearance changed dramatically in the winter of 1922-23 when the building was rebricked with cream brick, the bell tower removed and the front Federal pediment added. Other upgrades at that time included installing electric lights and the first memorial stained glass windows. The church is the city’s oldest building that has been continuously used for the purpose for which it was built.