Arcadia Presbyterian Church was organized August 18, 1871 at Temperance Hall on the property that would become the Arcadia School building and is now the Community Building. There were 24 charter members out of which were elected three elders and two deacons. For over two decades, the congregation met and worshipped at Temperance Hall. A Southern Presbyterian Church, Arcadia worshipped with a Northern Presbyterian Church for a period during this time at the Temperance Hall. That Northern church is now known as Reedy Creek Presbyterian Church in the Orebank community of Kingsport. In 1898, the Newland family donated land for the erection of a wood frame building. This first building was destroyed by a windstorm in 1933. Under the direction of a well-known Presbyterian evangelist of the time, Rev. Dan Graham, another building of brick construction was built two years later in 1935. Throughout this time period, Arcadia retained traveling pastors who would come to preach one Sunday a month. A Sunday School was held weekly. Not long after the construction of the new building, Rev. Graham was instrumental in the organization of a sister church just 5 miles down the road in the Bloomingdale Community of Kingsport known as Harmony Presbyterian Church (PCA). After Harmony's founding, Arcadia and this new sister church shared a pastor until the late 1970's. In the 1950's, the church enjoyed an addition to their facilities by adding a basement and some Sunday School classrooms. It was also during this time period on June 8, 1975 that Arcadia voted to leave the Southern Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church in the United States or PCUS - now known as the PCUSA after a merger) to join with Westminster Presbytery, now part of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) out of a concern that their former denomination was no longer faithful to historic Biblical Christianity. In 1980, Arcadia called its first full-time pastor, Rev. Larry Stallard, who served the church for 16 years and oversaw the addition of a room for a study and a new fellowship hall. Also dramatically increased was the interest and support of missions. Now, at the turn of the century, Arcadia has its third full-time pastor, still maintains the character and intimacy of a small church, and is planning into the future to remain faithful to God's Word. With the planned expansion of facilities to include a new sanctuary addition in the near future, Arcadia hopes to remain a beacon of solid Biblical teaching and a light to the community. |
Church History
Arcadia Presbyterian's History
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| Current Church Building |
| Current Sanctuary built in 1935 |
