Fire took the first three buildings of First Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, and this sanctuary was completed in 1928. Feel the long sweep of a community that existed as early as 1760, when the first resident Presbyterian minister arrived. In 1785 the congregation was incorporated by the State Legislature as the “Protestant Presbyterian Church of Wilmington,” and on April 4, 1817 it was received into the Fayetteville Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church.
Fires would shape its story: the first three buildings were destroyed by fire. The first two, built in 1818 and 1821, once sat on Front Street between Dock and Orange; the 1821 cornerstone survives here today at the foot of the stairs of the Kenan tower. The third building, raised on this very site, was dedicated on April 28, 1861—just weeks after the start of the Civil War—and burned on New Year’s Eve, 1925.
This present sanctuary was completed in 1928. Inside, the Lectern Bible, displayed on the front of the lectern, is named among the few tangible links the congregation still holds to its long past. Picture the 1821 cornerstone resting at the foot of the Kenan tower stairs, and the Lectern Bible on the lectern before you.