Hodgenville Christian Church

Hodgenville Christian Church. . Hodgenville is nestled along a bank of red clay hills framed by creeks that split north and south just a few miles from here. This rich red clay was ideal for growing corn, wheat and timothy (hay grass). It was also used to manufacture bricks for building projects after Hodgenville was officially established in 1818., During the 1790s, local settlers abandoned nearby Phillips Fort when it became safer to farm or embark on commercial interests like Hodgen's Mill that operated along the north fork of Nolin Creek for several decades., A period known as "The Second Great Awakening" (1790-1840) brought a renewed sense of purpose to people whose lives were challenging and often beset by tensions and struggles over issues of doctrine and the morality of slavery., A movement to unify Christian denominations began about 100 miles east of here in Cane Ridge, Kentucky in 1801. Over the decades, this Restoration Movement spurred the founding of the Disciples of Christ who would formally establish themselves in Hodgenville by 1872. Members of the church, some who descended from the area's earliest settlers, purchased this building lot for $350.00., At that time the town population was around 700 souls. There were four other churches: Baptist, Methodist, Catholic and Presbyterian. There were 4 doctors, 2 hotels, 4 saloons, 9 lawyers and 25 trades, including cobblers, barbers, milliners, brick layers, and carriage builders., Completed in 1877, the Hodgenville Christian Church was constructed with white oak, plain glass windows and poplar benches. Many renovations have followed including the addition of a basement, dining facilities and new stained glass windows. In 1982, the Church was given a large baptistry cross made from wood of the Boundary Oak tree which stood at Abraham Lincoln's birthplace. The building's exterior brick was sourced from that same red clay that inspired earlier generations to till the farms and fields that surround this community., On the National Register of Historic Places, this church is the oldest surviving structure on the town square, Dr. Louis A. Warren, renowned Lincoln scholar and author, served as Pastor here from 1918 to 1920. , Content from the Lincoln Museum Collections, (Captions) , This image of the Christian Church (c. 1900) shows horses hitched to rough-hewn posts and streets of packed dirt and rock. The larger poles announce the arrival of new technology - the telephone. Courtesy Hodgenville Christian Church, Three significant structures on the town square were demolished in the the 1960s: the 1908 Opera House and Handware Store (pictured here) as well as the 1866 County Courthouse. Courtesy Hodgenville Christian Church, The cross in the Christian Church baptistry is made of wood from the Boundary Oak that stood on the farm where Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809.