There is no available record of the date of the organization
of Saluda Methodist Church. The oldest records show that members
were received into the church as early as November 12, 1882. No
record exists of the exact date of the building of the church, but
on April 10, 1887 a deed was made by H.C. Tanner to Andrew Farmer Sr.,
I.D. Morris and Robert M. Adams, Trustees, for four fifths of an acre
of land as a lot for the church to be erected. Presumably the church
was built shortly thereafter, perhaps as early as 1888. With the
exception of a new roof and repairs, nothing is known to have been
done in construction until 1930, the year of the depression, when
the Ladies Aid Society remodeled the sanctuary by cutting off part
of the building for Sunday School rooms. Some years later Miss Toccoa
Sanders made a gift to the church which was used in remodeling and
relighting the sanctuary.
The first record of an organized Sunday School puts the date as
the first Sunday in January, 1897, which would be January 3, 1897.
The record states that during the month of January there was an
average attendance of 18 and 14 for February, with a total enrollment
of 21. There were four officers and teachers. L.M. Tiner was
superintendent.
It is presumed that Saluda Church first belonged to the Polk County
Circuit. Later there was a Saluda Circuit, 1894 to 1902. From 1902
to 1906 it was a part of Hendersonville Circuit. Beginning with 1906
and continuing until 1940 with the exception of 1928-29, it was
joined with Tryon in a two point charge. Since 1940 it has been a
station charge except that from 1960 to 1962 it was on a charge with
Upward Church and from 1962 to 1964 it was on a charge with Columbus
Church. In 1964 it was again made a station charge. At present it is
again on a charge with Columbus Church.
The first parsonage built for Saluda Church was a joint venture enterprise
of Saluda and Tryon Churches and the building committee was elected May
10, 1914. Between that date and November 12, 1917, the parsonage was
built, for the records show that the quarterly Conference at that time
gave authority to the trustees to borrow $500 to finish paying for the
building, the house now occupied by Jo and Charles Dellinger. In the
late forties the parsonage was sold and a new parsonage built on the
church lot just back of the church. The educational building, the
latest building enterprise undertaken, was erected in the early fifties.
The church has had a long and honorable history, although never large
in the number of its members. This church was at one time the church
home of the R.F. Andrews family who furnished the church with three
ministers, one of whom was until recently a missionary to Brazil and
also one minister's wife. Two of the sons, W.E. Andrews and F.L.
Andrews, are members of the Western North Carolina Conference. More
recently, Miss Josephine Pace from this church has gone into full-time
Christian service and Randy Foster, the son of Hop and Rheta Foster,
has become a minister in the Western North Carolina Conference.
Saluda has four churches within the city. The Methodist Church is the
oldest in point of origin.
