Wyco Church
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
Built around 1917, The Wyco Church enjoyed a highly active congregation for several years. In the 1950s attendance at the church began to drop. This led to the end of church services however, weddings were still occasionally conducted. In 1964 the church was reopened with a new name. The now, Wyco Independent Church opened as a non-denominational facility. Eight years later, in 1972 the church once again took on a new name as it was changed to Wyco Freewill Baptist Church. It did not take long before the church would go through another name change. On February 1, 1977 the name of the church was changed to Wyco Independent Baptist Church.
The church was abandoned in 1990 when the coal boom ceased to exists and The Pittston Coal Company put an end to operations for good. Because of the churches abandonment, there was no upkeep on the building and the roof and parts of the structure began to deteriorate. The church was transferred over to the Rural Appalachian League on May 13, 2003.
The Wyco Church is listed on the National Register of Historical Places. Its local architectural significance made it eligible. A successor to the early Gothic Revival and High Victorian Gothic styles that were popular during the nineteenth century in the United States, the church's architecture is a perfect example of the local Late Gothic Revival style of architecture.
Although the roof of the building has been damaged, it preserves excellent historic architectural integrity.