Centre Presbyterian Church

Centre Presbyterian Church. The Earliest Perry County Church Still in Existence. , With the Treaty of Albany in 1754, what is now Perry County became legally open to pioneers who were attracted to the fertile soil and abundant water of Shermans valley. These predominantly Scotch-Irish settlers suffered greatly during the Indian raids in 1756 and 1763., In April 1766, the Donegal Presbytery authorized three congregations in what is now Perry County: Toboyne, Centre and Dix Hill., By September 1766, Thomas Ross, John Byers, Edward Allet, John Hamilton and Hugh Alexander, acting on behalf of the young Centre congregation, had bought seven acres, including a burial ground, from George Robinson. It was here they built the first church. Within a year, a simple log "meeting house" with tree stumps for seats was constructed by a spring just north of Fort Robinson, site of an earlier Indian attack. In those first years, members often came to services armed., In 1777, The Reverend John Linn became the first minister, serving Centre, Blain and Limestone churches (near Elliottsburg.) Subsequently, Limestone was abandoned and Landisburg joined the charge in 1823. Linn's leadership during his 42-year pastorate established the church in the community. In 1793, the congregation replaced the first church with one of stone. In 1850, a wood frame structure was constructed., The congregation in the 1890s added a belfry, enlarged the church with a 24 by 40-foot Sunday School room and built the parsonage and sexton's house. In the 1940s, it dug out a basement for offices and rooms, and in the 1950s it installed beautiful stained-glass windows. In 1957, a Christian education wing was added., Centre Church is the only one of the original churches still in use today. Over 250 years after the church founding, faithful members who embrace the Gospel continue to minister to the families who call the verdant Shermans Valley their home., [Captions:] , Centre Church from its founding to the present, illustrating its three phases and the expansion of the 1850 simple wood frame structure. Painted by Joanna Buck, Sexton's house and store, when still across the road from the cemetery in the 1930s., Rev. John Linn, 1778 - 1820 , Pioneering minister who brought the Gospel to frontier farmers.