1919-Present
Judson Baptist Church
Winfield, West Virginia WV
Text at bottom of photo reads: Founding members of Judson Baptist Church from ca. 1940-photo courtesy of Terry McCallister.
Two women were the moving force that caused Judson Baptist Church to be constructed on Bills Creek Road near Winfield, W.Va. The congregation had organized in June 20, 1919, with 38 members and received into the Teays Valley Association that same year. Recognizing the need for a new congregation, Alice and Anne Rose, members of the Siloam Church in Mason County and had saved several hundred dollars to help start a church at the mouth of Bills Creek.
Several Boone County Baptists moved into the area and were likewise determined to being such a work but had no money. At that point Alice and Mary Rose gave the money they had saved for a church and after borrowing and additional $1000 the Judson Baptist Church was constructed in 1923. The lumber for the church was sawed on-the-spot at Bill’s Creek. The joists were cut full-length and all from pine logs. At the dedication of the first building there were “3 cars present but the place of full of buggies, horses and wagons.”[1] This building was used until a new brick sanctuary was dedicated June 23, 1974.[2]
- In 1932 Judson Baptist Church hosted the Teays Valley Association for the first time and has continued that hospitality many times in the past 90 years.
- In 1936 the church reported over 100 members (106).
- In 1954 they reported paying their pastor $2080 per year.
- In 1965 the church surpassed the 200 member mark (217).
- In 1984 they reached their highest membership with 449 and broke ground for a new educational facility.[3]
[Compiler’s note: There is a settlement named Judson, an unincorporated community in Summers County, West Virginia. It is located in southern West Virginia west of Alderson and northeast of Hinton.]
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[1] “Early Days at Judson Church,” published manuscript but with no documentation, p. 4.
[2] Michael Montgomery Watts, The Teays Valley Baptist Association: a brief history (The Teays Valley Baptists Association, 1995), p. 158.
[3] Ibid., pp. 158-159.