Gordon Baptist Church

Baptists in Gordon first erected a brush arbor church, Hope Arbor, circa 1819. On May 16, 1867, James Pynes gave one acre and timber to build a church in the town center, and Pynes, William Wood, and John T. Davis, serving as the Building Committee, signed the contract while 41 members pledged amounts from $5 to $500. Completed in 1868, the wooden church had a high portico with white columns, a long flight of steps across the width of the portico, a square steeple with a belfry, wooden benches inside, and a rear balcony; it later burned. In 1907, plans were laid for the present brick church, with Sam Bowdon, E.L. Marbury, W.E. McEachern, J.B. Martin, and T.D. McEachern on the Building Committee; Marbury, Dr. C. E. Granberry, J.W. Britt, T.D. McEachern, and C.P. Bowdon on the Solicitation Committee; and Dr. Granberry, W. E. McEachern, and Judge George Leslie on the committee to secure a lot. Although financing and completion were difficult during a major economic downturn, minutes show that on June 12, 1910, E. L. Marbury was instructed to finish the building on his estimate of $400 for additional costs, and Sam Bowdon gave a Tiffany-style stained glass window.

Gordon, Alabama · United States