Westminster Presbyterian Church-History

History

Incorporated March 3, 1851, by an act of Kentucky General Assembly as Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The church merged with Presbyterian Church USA in1906, and became Kentucky Avenue Presbyterian Church. In 1951, the congregation moved to the modified Gothic structure in its current location at 28th & Broadway. The name was changed to Westminster Presbyterian Church.

The following excerpts are from information researched by Bill Powell, deceased member of our congregation, and husband of member Ruth Powell:

Westminster began in 1884 as the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at the corner of Poplar (later 7th) and Kentucky Avenue. Many years before there had been a Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Paducah. According to the late historian and newspaper columnist, Fred Neuman (his widow, Mrs. Katherine Adams was the organist at Westminster) it was in a frame house at what is now South 3rd & Washington. Neuman wrote in his book, published in the 1920s, that the church dissolved in 1883 and members affiliated with other churches.

In 1884, the determined originators of what is now Westminster ascended a narrow flight of stairs to the drab room on the second floor of the building to organize the Cumberland Presbyterian Church that became Westminster in the 1950's. The year 1884 was one of many great events in Paducah. The first of three major floods to hit the city in recorded history rose to a stage of 54 ft 2 3/4 inches on the Ohio gauge early in the year. The water covered many blocks of downtown Paducah but did not interfere with the church at 7th and Kentucky Ave.

The congregation was reorganized and by 1894 had a beautiful home on the southwest corner of 6th & Kentucky Ave. The original church building, hailed as an architectural gem in its prime, became a victim of premature ruin. In the 1940's, the slate shingles began giving way and falling to the sidewalk of the busy intersection of what then had become a squeezed in part of downtown Paducah. The shingles endangered the lives of people on the sidewalk and the church had to be condemned. The interior of the church had also deteriorated and made it almost impossible to maintain without extensive cost, which the church, growing smaller by the year, could not afford.

In 1945, Rev. Charles M. Bunce had the idea to move the church westward to a new building. The church boards agonized over the problem of relocation, moving to 28th and Broadway seemed to be a dream, but an impossibility with the funds at hand.

Elders, deacons and trustee officially recommended a new church in a new location in August of 1947. The groundbreaking was held October 1, 1950 at our present location of 2732 Broadway. Dedication services for the sanctuary and furnishings of Westminster Presbyterian Church were held July 13 & 14, 1952. The theme was that it was the realization of a dream, through the providence of God, and the willing sacrifice and service of "commonplace saints, living and dead, who put their faith in God, their fears in their pockets and made the dream come true."

Westminster undertook a major expansion in 1961 with the addition of the Christian Education addition.

Known Pastors of Westminster Presbyterian Church.