Garden Club
asks city for little church
By SUE WATSON
Staff Writer
Ladies with
the Town and Country Garden Club descended upon the Holly
Springs Board of Aldermen last week hoping to convince
the city to lease the historic shotgun-style church
beside city hall to the club. They said they want to take
on the little church, built in 1837, as a preservation
project.
“The
building is falling in and we want to save it,” said
Karen Schneller, club representative. “We think
it’s worth saving.”
The club
offered to raise the $20,000 to $30,000 it will take to
restore the building in exchange for a 99-year lease from
the city.
In exchange
for the lease and a requested tax-exempt status on the
building, the ladies said they would save the building
for future generations. They said the building could be
used for receptions, meetings and small weddings.
The 16 foot
by 48 foot wood frame house was built as a Sunday school
in 1837 - replacing a pole and mud cabin erected for the
same purpose by residents, the late Robert H. Pattillo, a
Presbyterian, and James Elder, a Methodist. The two were
among 20 charter members and first officers of the
Presbyterian Church organized by Rev. Daniel Gray in
December 1836.
Planning for
the church building came soon after the church was
organized further under the leadership of Rev. Samuel
Hurd during the early months of 1837, the same year that
a financial panic in the banking industry that year that
saw many prominent citizens in Holly Springs losing their
fortunes with the collapse of the local McEwen, King and
Company Bank.
Plans for
the new church were muted to the more modest requirements
creating a building that resembles a shotgun-style house
of the period rather than a house of worship.
The little
church was moved to its present site in 1860 to make room
for the construction of the present Holly Springs
Presbyterian Church.
A written
history of the church reads that, “One architectural
historian has declared it to be the oldest example of
“shotgun” architecture in America outside New
Orleans. But by any account it survives as one of the
very oldest buildings in Holly Springs and North
Mississippi.”
It is
counted as among the 12 oldest surviving Mississippi
church buildings - the oldest surviving church building
in the state outside the Natchez district. It served as a
house of worship until 1848 and then was converted to
other uses.
The little
church was moved to its present site so the new
Presbyterian Church could be constructed on the north
side of today’s city hall. The building has served
as an office, a residence, office of the Production
Credit Association, the office of The Holly Springs
Chamber of Commerce and the office of the city’s
recreation department.
Holly
Springs Mayor Andre’ DeBerry told Schneller the city
would have to think it over before deciding to lease the
building. He asked the difference in the Town and Country
Garden Club and the Holly Springs Garden Club.
“We’re
the folks who couldn’t get in the other club,”
Schneller said. “We want to keep up the little
house, not the big house (Montrose).”
“We
have had some issues to arise with Montrose,” said
DeBerry. “I do not want to get into another
situation.”
“We
don’t want to put $20,000 to $30,000 in a building
and lose it in another year or two,” she said.
“We
want to make sure the tenants assist us as well,”
the mayor said.
“It’s
going to fall in,” Schneller replied. “We want
to re-do the bathroom and fix up the kitchen.”
Report News:
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