Lower West Conococheague Presbyterian Church

Lower West Conococheague Presbyterian Church. . , The Welsh Run Presbyterian Congregation , During the 1730s and 1740s, a number of Presbyterian Welsh and Scots-Irish families settled along Welsh Run's tributary of the West Conococheague Creek. In 1741 the Welsh Run community established the Lower West Conococheague Presbyterian Congregation, an evangelical sect that broke away from the older Upper West Conococheague Church. The new congregation built a log meeting house one mile north of this location along an Indian path on the West Conococheague. Rev. Dunlop served as the first itinerant preacher, followed by Rev. James Campbell eight years later. Prior to 1760, a raiding party of Western Delaware Indians burned the meeting house, temporarily disbanding the congregation., The Lower West Conococheague Church reestablished itself and built a new log meeting house on this present site in 1774. Later known as the "White Church" for the color of its board siding, the second meeting house featured a central high pulpit with an elaborately carved sounding-board and space in front for the long communion table and seats "having backs as high as the shoulders.", The Rev. Thomas McPherrin served as the minister from 1774 to 1799. After a three year absence, the church was led by Rev. Robert Kennedy, who served from 1802 to 1816 and from 1825 to 1843. Kennedy, for whom the present church is named, was known for his strong views on temperance. Local tradition claims Kennedy forbid any alcohol to be present on his nearby farm property, making it impossible for his family to find and keep farm workers., After Kennedy's death in 1843, the log church fell into disrepair and its congregation declined in number in 1871 Kennedy's son Elias, now living in Philadelphia, donated funds to build a new church on the same site, naming it in honor of his father. Elias also donated funds to build the Welsh Run Academy, a high school for girls run by the church. The academy building remains standing today and is located directly across Route 416 from this site., In 1875, Rev. Joseph H. Fleming, D.D., became the first pastor for the new church and founder of the Welsh Run School for Girls. Under Fleming's leadership, the congregation grew in number and supported both a Sunday church service and a Sunday school with a library for children and young adults., After Fleming retired in 1891, the church was served for the next 58 years by the Revs. William West, Roland Crist, William Pfoutz, John Diehl, George Rentz, Edward Snook, Lawrence Guthrie and W.W. Dinsmore. The congregation purchased a new pump organ in 1916, which continues in use to this day. In 1934, Sophie Fleming commissioned a stained glass Tiffany window to be placed in the chancel in memory of her father, Joseph, mother, Margaret, and sister, Tacy., With the end of World War II, the congregation again went into decline resulting in the dissolution of the church in 1962. In 1974 the Carlisle Presbytery took over the property and 30 years later donated the church building and 1.4 acres to the Friends of the Robert Kennedy Memorial Presbyterian Church, a local nonprofit corporation, organized to maintain and preserve the church building and adjacent cemetery., The Second Presbyterian Meeting House at Welsh Run , This etching of the second meeting house or "White Church" illustrated an historical sketch by James Gray Rose, D.D., Pastor of the Mercersburg Presbyterian Church. Rose presented the paper on July 4, 1921 to the Franklin County chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution., The artist or owner of the print is noted, "by courtesy of Mrs. Roy Myers." The date of the original artwork is not known. The church was built in 1774 and dismantled in 1871, making way for the current Robert Kennedy Memorial Presbyterian Church., Architecture of the Kennedy Church , The Robert Kennedy Church is a significant example of the Italianate style of ecclesiastical architecture of the mid to late 1800s. It features ornate brackets under the roofeaves and ashlar wood siding. Ashlar refers to weatherboarding that is cut and painted to give the appearance of stone blocks. Except for the steeple, which was lowered at some time after 1900 when the bell section was removed, the church retains most of its original appearance from the time of its construction in 1871.