1. SUBJECT:
The Main Street Presbyterian Church.
East side of North Main Street, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
3. DATE:
1856.
Part of Thomas Harrison inclusive survey March 1773.
Frances Stuart and Benjamin Smith from Thomas Harrison inclusive survey.
John Graham from Frances Stuart and Benjamin Smith, December 1801, half a lot, one-fourth acre, B.R.D.B. 00, page 539.
A.S. Gray from John Graham’s heirs, July 17, 1843, B.R.D.B.15, page 304.
Presbyterian Church Trustees ("Old School") from A.S. Gray 1855, B.R.D.B.28, page 256.
B. Ney and Sons Limited, from Presbyterian Church Trustees, August 16, 1906, D.B.78, page 134.
Grover C. Ney and Olga Wise from B. Ney and wife, October 3, 1912, D.B.95, page 423.
A description cannot be given. The original house on this location was frame. It was used in 1817 and
before for a hat manufactory. The church built in 1855-6 was of brick.
The principal historical significance in connection with this location seems to center around the fact of its being the location of the "Old School" Presbyterian Church which was built in 1855-6, the significance of the "Old School" being that in 1838, the Harrisonburg members of the Cook’s Creek Church withdrew from the Harrisonburg church. The Presbyterian place of worship before and up to the time of the building of this church had been in the old original stone church located on West Market Street. When the withdrawal of the Cook’s Creek members occurred in 1838 they built their church on the location now occupied by the U.S. Post Office and Federal Court Building, and were afterwards known at the "New School" Presbyterian Church, or rather, the Cook’s Creek Church.
Not much can be learned before the building of the new church, except that it had been used for business purposes with living quarters on the floor above the street. In 1817 and before, there was a frame building in which hat making was carried on.
Rockingham County Court Records.
October 26, 1937 Geo. W. Fetzer
Harrisonburg, VA