Brookville Presbyterian Church By Jason Carrier
Records show that in 1808 religious services were held in the village of Port Barnett, then the head of Jefferson County, and Reverend Robert McGarragh was the pioneer minister. No one knows how long the Reverend continued to preach there. In 1842 the church was moved to a school house in Brookville near the Jefferson U.P.
Services were conducted by ministers appointed by Presbyterians until 1834. Someone requested that Mr. John Shoap could preach at the church congregation. He accepted to preach but he died before he ever got the chance to preach.
In 1835 Rev. Gara Bishop was appointed preacher and from then on services have been held in Bethel Church.
In 1841 while Rev. David Polk was preaching, a small frame church was built near the present church that is there today, the contract price of the church was between 1-100 dollars, and it was dedicated in August 1842.
Before starting to preach, Dr. Cummings had been educated as a physician. When he was preaching he carried on a drugstore in order to eke out a small amount of money, it is feared, a somewhat uncertain salary. In September 1861, Dr. Cummings was released to the Presbytery of Allegheny and while he was a preacher for 14, the congregation grew quite significantly. Rev. Samuel, was called to devote his entire time to the Brookville Church. He was sworn in on June 16, 1863.
During the fall and winter of 1865 and 1866 the congregation decided to build a new church because they were out growing their old one. The congregation was still growing and it didn't look like it was going to stop. On February 16, 1866, by an order of the court, the name of the church was changed to "The Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of Brookville." The Presbyterian Church was then built so it could hold all of the people coming into the new church.
The Presbyterian Church is now located at the corner of Main and Valley Street.
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