Rev. William Foote DD and Judge James Armstrong (an elder from Romney)
organized Mt. Hope (Keyser) and Mt. Carbon (Piedmont) as a united congregation with Rev. John Johnston from Belfast, Ireland as the pastor. The year was 1854. The first sermon at Piedmont by Rev. Foote was in September
of that year.
The first site of the church was at the top of Child’s Ave. (sometimes called Kenny House Hill). The church was a frame building with a stone basement which was used as a school room. With the coming of the B & O Railroad the communities grew and so did the churches under Mr. Johnston. Presbyterians living in Piedmont and Westernport petitioned Winchester Presbytery to organize a separate church. On November 29, 1856, the commission organized the church with 25 charter members. The organization was completed the next day with the ordination and installation of Dr. Walter Moore and William Patrick as ruling elders.
After the destruction caused by the Civil War, the church had to be reorganized. On March 12, 1868, with a roll of 25 members, the church ordained Ezra Fredlock and William A. Thresher as elders. This was under
the pastorate of Rev. Edward Martin.
The cornerstone of the present church on Ashfield Street was laid in 1883, the building completed in 1888. A house at 111 E Hampshire Street was purchased in 1906 to be used as the manse, a home for the minister.
In 1926 a house on Paxton Street was purchased to be used as Sunday
school rooms. It was used until 1956. The congregation pledged funds
to build a new educational building. It was completed in 1957.
During the time of construction, Sunday school classes were held just down the street in the Majestic movie theater. The dedication of the new building was April 14, 1957.
When the loan for the educational building was paid in full, planning began for the renovation of the sanctuary. Work was soon started. The church was
made like new from the main entrance hall to the balcony and the ceiling of the sanctuary. The newly remodeled sanctuary was dedicated on December 1, 1961. On the wall behind the pulpit the main feature of the room was a simple cross, front and center, with a natural redwood wall on either side of it.
Doors going to the pastor’s study and the classrooms were on each side with
symbols carved into plaques at the top of each door. The pews, pulpits and woodwork were made of very light wood and the beautiful and colorful stained glass windows glowed as the sun filtered through them.
A house in the Horse Rock area of Westernport was purchased as a manse for the minister’s family in 1966. The home on East Hampshire Street in Piedmont was sold.
In 1972 the officers of the church were united in a unicameral board. This dissolved the office of Deacon. The duties of the deaconate were assumed
by the ruling elders comprising the session.
The front brickwork of the church was sandblasted and the woodwork given a facelift in 1973. In the Fall of 1978 the church members celebrated with a mortgage burning, signifying that the full payment of all loans for construction
were paid in full.
For several years there was a chapel in Beryl, WV which was operated as an outpost of the church. Eventually most of its members blended into the Piedmont Church and it was no longer used by the congregation. Other congregations were allowed to use the building up until it and the land
around it was purchased by Westvaco. The bell from the chapel was given
to the Bloomington Fire Company.
