First Presbyterian Church
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
First Presbyterian Church was built in 1907 and is home to a congregation founded in 1876. Designed in the Gothic Revival style, the building features a limestone block exterior laid in alternating wide and narrow courses, arched and rectangular-shaped stained glass windows, large arched windows, and two towers, one of which is much taller than the other. First Presbyterian was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
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First Presbyterian Church was built in 1907 and is home to a congregation founded in 1876.
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
First Presbyterian Church was established on May 14, 1876 six weeks after Hot Springs was incorporated. The congregation moved to various locations during the next several years before being housed in a building on Water Street. It appears that the second church was built on land donated to the congregation sometime in the late 1800s and it was used until the current church building, which was designed by architect Charles Thompson, was erected in 1907. Over time, other Presbyterian congregations in Hot Springs emerged from First Presbyterian. In early 1984, it became a member of Presbyterian (U.S.A), the national denomination of Presbyterian congregations.
Sources
"First Presbyterian Church." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. December 22, 1982. https://catalog.archives.gov/OpaAPI/media/26139628/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_AR/82000817.pdf.
"History of First Presbyterian Church, Hot Springs, Arkansas." First Presbyterian Church. Accessed August 22, 2021. https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/8f837cab-3885-4a18-812c-8e7ff23e4cd7/History%20of%20First%20Presbyterian%20Church.pdf.
Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Presbyterian_Church,_Hot_Springs,_AR.JPG