First Presbyterian Church Kings Mountain 3

On Saturday April 5th, 1884, eighteen men and women gathered together in the small town of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, to organize a new church in the Mecklenburg Presbytery. The name chosen was “The Presbyterian Church of Kings Mountain”. Reverend E. P. Davis was engaged to serve as minister one Sunday each month and because the congregation possessed no permanent building of its own, services were held in the local A.R.P. and Methodist churches. In 1887 a small frame structure was erected on the corner of Kings Street and Railroad Avenue during which time a Sunday School was established under the direction of Elder W.I. Stowe.

As the church grew a larger facility was needed and in 1906 a new brick building was constructed on the corner of Piedmont Avenue and Mountain Street. By 1919 the congregation had increased to ninety-four members and it was decided a full-time pastor was needed. Reverend Fred H. Hay accepted the church’s call later that year. Under the outstanding leadership of Dr. I. S. McElroy, who served as minister from 1923 until his death in 1931, the congregation and Sunday School grew so rapidly an adjourning cottage was rented to serve as an annex. In 1936, Mrs. Ida Pauline Neisler presented the church with a lot on the corner of King and Gaston streets for the construction of the new church building. The handsome English Gothic structure, made of rose-colored bricks, was formally dedicated on December 5th, 1937. Of special note are the magnificent stained glass chancel windows gracing the sanctuary; designed by an artist in Hungary, they were exhibited in Paris before being shipped to Kings Mountain.