First Presbyterian Church in Dunbar, Nebraska, celebrated its 150th anniversary on November 14, 2021. As part of the celebration, the congregation recalled their 35 year history as a church in Nebraska Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
A group of men and women living in the Harmony neighborhood southeast of Dunbar in 1870, realized a need for religious influence and training. On May 1, 1870 in a barn on the J.W. Hoagland farm, they organized the Delaware Union Sunday School.
By November 1871, led by the evangelist Rev. Amick, this group was organized as the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Thirteen charter members met in the home of R.F. Baker. Their constitution was dated and signed on Nov. 6, 1871. The last names of those members included: Baker, Kruse, Thrailkill, Akin, Griffin, Elliott and Beans.
The Baker schoolhouse, located three miles east of Dunbar, was erected that same year and used as the church home. Church services and Sunday school was held there for twelve years.
The work grew and the membership increased until the year 1883 when it was decided that a church building should be erected. The building site was chosen just east of Dunbar. That would be located just up the hill to the west from Clyde and Cindy Draeger’s home. That church is no longer standing.
The frame building was built at a cost of $2,200. It was dedicated as the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Dunbar, on Nov. 11, 1883. Members at the time numbered less than fifty. The name of the congregation was changed from Harmony to that of Dunbar.
One of the first pastors in that building was Rev. Powell, he received a salary of $600 a year and housing was provided. In 1906, the church merged with the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America. It was then known as the First Presbyterian Church of Dunbar.
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