An old sour orange grove once stood at this site and played a role in the early development of Delray Beach. Until 1876, it was the only distinguishable characteristic within 60 miles of a sparsely inhabited subtropical wilderness between Lake Worth and Biscayne Bay. Settlers in 1894-95 who saw the grove, partially surrounded by a rock wall, speculated that its trees had been planted by Seminole Indians, Minorcan immigrants, or the Spanish, but its origin remains unknown. A nearby haulover, the Orange Grove Haulover, was named for the grove and appeared on 19th-century Florida maps as early as 1826. In 1876, the U.S. Life Saving Service, established by Congress in 1848 to protect mariners, built the Orange Grove House of Refuge #3 nearby. When potential settlers came to the proposed Town of Linton, later renamed Delray Beach, the refuge keeper, Stephen N. Andrews, suggested placing the main street, Atlantic Avenue, between the House of Refuge on the north and the orange grove on the south. The grove later disappeared, and in 1924 a local Baptist congregation built a new sanctuary on this spot. The church, designed, built, and financially underwritten by F.J. Schrader, was inspired by a church in Florence, Italy, though he made it less ornate. Beginning in May 1924, Schrader and a small crew of a carpenter, plumber, and electrician undertook the difficult construction, including the church’s large cypress trusses, and it was said at the time to be “the most Floridian Church in Florida.” Built originally as Gibson Memorial Baptist Church, it remained unfinished financially after the real estate crash of 1926 and the hurricanes that followed left the congregation unable to finish paying Schrader. Five weeks after the 1928 hurricane, local Presbyterians rented the church and later purchased it. After a new sanctuary was built in 1977, the original church became the Fellowship Hall for the First Presbyterian Church.