Celebration plans include open house Sept. 23

From late 1891 until 1908, six pastors served what is now the Congregational Church of Tryon, UCC in a small white meetinghouse on Melrose Ave. In 1895 the original church name of United Church of Christ of Tryon, was changed to the Congregational Church of Christ of Tryon, N.C. The church was growing and in 1907, $1,500 was borrowed from the Congregational Church Building Society to erect the first parsonage for the church, and in 1908, the original meeting house was rebuilt by a generous donation by Wisconsin industrialist Charles E. Erskine, husband of Emma Payne Erskine.

Charles’ architect-sculptor son, Harold P. Erskine, a recent graduate of Columbia University School of Architecture and the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, drew up the plans for the richly textured Gothic Revival church building, utilizing a popular early twentieth century form of a tower containing the narthex adjacent to a gable-roofed sanctuary. The walls of uncoursed river stone, were handpicked from the Pacolet River by Charles Erskine, builder William Frank Smith, and his mason Calvin Cheek.

On April 12, 1908, soon after the church was completed, a new pipe organ was installed. The organ was installed under the guidance and by the donations of Charles Erskine, who, being an organist, carefully selected the organ’s combinations of horns and woodwinds to fit the size of the sanctuary. Unfortunately, Charles had little chance to enjoy these and other contributions to the church and community as he passed away on July 8, 1908 at the age of 56.

The Congregational Church of Tryon is proud to be an integral part of Tryon’s history and community for the past 125 years, and in celebration of such, will be holding an open house on Friday, Sept. 23, which will include a presentation of the history of the church and surrounding Melrose community.

– article submitted by The Congregational Church of Tryon/Mark Byington