Sunday Services
Sunday School - 9:00am
Worship Service - 10:00am
Pastor -
Choir Director/Organist – Cheryl Duncan
Stated Clerk of Session – Clark Junk
Treasurer – Paula Junk
Sunday School Superintendent – Paula Junk
Sunday School Secretary and Treasurer – Sherry Scully
LAUREL HILL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH HISTORY
Location: PA State Rural Route 4101 near the village of Laurel Hill, Dunbar Townsh
ip, Fayette Co., PA. It is alleged to be the first Presbyterian Church constructed west of the Allegheny Mountains. In 1772 a long building, or more likely a tent, was constructed on a site 1 and ½ miles east of the present church. The congregation was “organized” in 1776 by James Power in 1776 by James Power, although he supplied here in 1774 on his first trip west of the mountains. The second meeting house was erected in 1782 on the present site. It too was a log building. James Dunlap introduced Isaac Watt’s Psalms and Hymns into the church, about ½ of the members withdrew to form Laurel Hill Associate Reformed Church on the hill opposite the Presbyterian structure. A two story brick church was erected by the Presbyterians in 1852 and was replaced by the present building in 1897 (dedicated in 1898). Several outlying chapels were built by members of the Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church: Bethel (1877), Stoneroad (1885), and Franklin Memorial (1888). In 1956 the church became part of the Redstone Cooperative Parish, later the Pleasant Hills Parish, which terminated in 1980. A manse erected in 1896 – 97 was sold in 1970. On October 20th, 2002, the congregation celebrated it’s 230th anniversary. Pastors: James Power 1776 – 81; James Dunlap 1782 – 1803; James Guthrie 1805 – 50; Joel Stoneroad 1850 – 78; R.R. Gailey 1879 – 82; S.S. Bergen 1882 – 88; J.B. Reed 1888 – 1916; W.P. Russell 1917 – 1920; A.B. Weisz 1921 – 24; F.E. Robb 1926 – 27; S.L. Johnston 1928 – 34; W.F. McKee, S.S. 1934 – 1939; W.S. Bingham 1942 – 48; T.E. Thompson, S.S. 1949 – 1954. Redstone Cooperative Parish/Pleasant Hills Parish:
Directors: C.R. Eble 1957 – 62; Wendell Hartford 1962 – 66; Max House 1970 – 81. Associates: Ms Carol Dilley 1974 – 76; M.R. House 1980 – 1981; Ms Marie Henry 1981. Assistants: R.L. Zorn 1956 – 58; K.D. Briggs 1958 – 60; John Mather 1965 – 68. Lee Beckes, Interim Pastor 1981; Ms M.A. Kazanjian 1983 – 90; Ms. Aleda Menchyk 1992 – 94; Ms. Bonnie Hartley CLP 2004 – 2010; Jeff Smith CRE 2012 – Present. Ministerial Sons: C.L.V. McKee, Austin Gilleland, Robert Herniman, William Johnston, Paul Johnston. Organizations: Sunday School 1824 – Present. Records: Session Minutes, 1833 – 1896. (Typescript in Uniontown Public Library, Uniontown, Pennsylvania)
Session Minutes 1896 – Present (in the possession of the Clerk of Session)
This history was taken from:
Redstone Presbytery: A Bicentennial History 1781 – 1981
Updated to 2010
A Constituent Part of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
1958 – 1983
And of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) since 1983
Encompassing the Pennsylvania Counties of Cambria, Fayette, Somerset, and Westmoreland
Compiled by Rev. Stewart, Ph.D., and Rev. James T. Dennison, Th.M. With Illustrations by Margaret Stewart Pfeiffer and Alice McKelvy Stewart
