Memorial Garden - work in progress
Front of the Church - Old and New
In more than 100 years of ministry in the South Hills area, 32 pastors have served the congregation of Elizabeth Memorial United Methodist Church. The church began as a Sunday School class in 1895, meeting in a storeroom under the Odd Fellows Hall on the site of the present South Hills fire station on Bridge Road.
As the church grew it began to look for a site to construct a building. In 1902, on land donated by the South Charleston Land Improvement Company, Elizabeth Memorial M.E. Church South was built. Located at 804 Myrtle Road, the church was named in memory of the mother-in-law of R.S. Carr, a prominent figure in the land company. A familiar figure in his horse-drawn buggy, he was largely responsible for the gift of this land.
The original church was built using stone quarried on Davis Creek and hauled over mud roads in horse drawn wagons. B.L. Isaac, father of the present generation of Isaacs, assisted by others, did the stone work.
Membership continued to grow at a rapid rate during the 1940s and 1950s, prompting the addition of several classrooms, a basement, and a parsonage. In the 1960s, the church, under the leadership of Rev. Robert Chandler, began to study the possibility of a new, bigger facility.
In the mid-1970s, land was purchased at the corner of Oakwood and Bridge roads for a new church building. On May 22, 1977, over 100 members of the congregation walked from the structure on the corner of Bridge and Myrtle roads to the new church at 108 Oakwood Road for their first worship service in the new building.
A second service of worship was added to the Sunday morning schedule in 2000. "Java, Jeans and Jesus" features a praise team (The Holy Fish), power point and video clips, and dramatic skits as a way to share the Gospel.
In 2005 Elizabeth Memorial began a capital funds campaign to add more classrooms and to renovate the current church building. Construction on the new addition began in the Spring of 2006, and six months later Sunday School classes and the youth moved into their new rooms. Improvements continue, such as the landscaping of a memorial garden and a new stage for worship.
Elizabeth Memorial looks forward to a bright future of serving the Lord Jesus Christ in the 21st century.
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The space for this Website has been provided courtesy of The General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church.