The Index-Journal from Greenwood, South Carolina • Page 50

Friday, May 30. 1997 The Index-Journal, Centennial Edition, Greenwood, S.C. AA-23. Greenwood County Centennial Morris Chapel founded in 1885; Macedonia in 1895 By CHAR LEE MARSHALL Index-Journal staff writer GREENWOOD The congregation at Morris Chapel Baptist has been serving the Lord since 1865. The church, on Baptist Avenue in Greenwood, was organized by the Rev.

Frank Morris. Isaac Evans donated the land for the church and he later became its first Sunday school superintendent. The members first worshipped under a brush arbor. When winter came, and there was still no church building, a local Presbyterian church allowed them to use its old building for worship. Morris Chapel Baptist Church came into existence at a time of un rest and uncertainty.

"It was a very difficult time for people who had been so long in bondage and slavery," said Rev. Ed F. Johnson, author of "The Story of Morris Chapel Baptist Church jn Bits and Pieces." He is currently pastor of the church. "Newcomers to freedom, without Certification of their skills, talents and knowledge former slaves, American Negroes, our foreparents, set out to carve their place in society. As a result, Morris Chapel was born." "During this period of unrest and uncertainty, here in what we now know as Greenwood, 32 years before Greenwood County was established, men and women of courage, II 3 under the divine leadership of God, set out to organize a church in what was then Abbeville County." Rev.

Johnson did research into the events of the time period when the church was formed as he prepared to write Morris Chapel's history. Among the facts he recorded was that after the Civil War a new state legislature recognized the freedom of the Negroes by ratifying the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This amendment prohibited slavery in the United States of America. MACEDONIA Macedonia Baptist Church was organized with 12 charter members in 1893 in the home of William and Rachel Dandy on Mineral Street under the sponsorship of Morris Chapel Baptist Church.

The Rev. Charles Franklin was the first pastor. Services were held in the Dandy home until the first permanent house of worship, a wooden structure on Marion Street, was built. Under the administration of Rev. T.H.

Broadus, a brick church was built. The church debt was paid and the mortgage was burned in 1944. Many improvements were made to the church plant and plans for expansion and renovation were made. MAYS UNITED METHODIST Trinity United Methodist Church of Ninety Six was officially named May's United Methodist Church in 1989. Trinity's history began more than a hundred years ago when Prince Graham, who lived in the Mt.

Carmel area, and seven other young men erected a structure in order that they might hold prayer meetings. They were given a parcel of land on which they first erected a Brush Arbor. Then came a church ing. Brush ArborTrinity had been a community outreach and the community responded by helping to complete the church. A parsonage was build near the church to house the pastors for the four churches on the charge.

MLPisgah Baptist Church in Greenwood is one of the oldest churches in the county. From its address, the brick church overlooks the Magnolia Cemetary. I i Promised Land gave chance to farm, live ONS G0N.GRATU The key attraction of the community was the opportunity for property ownership and the'promise" the future held as land owners. Thus, the community became the "promised land" for those who were able to buy property. NWOOD By ALLEN EASLER Index-Journal staff writer PROMISED LAND A racially homogeneous community founded after the Civil War, Promised Land is a little plot of; earth the residents created for themselves where they could withstand the racism of the post-Civil War era.

Located between Greenwood and McCormick along S.C. 10, the community was founded on the Samuel Marshall plantation after the Civil War. Marshall's children sold. the land, after his death, to the S.C. Land Commission for $10 an acre.

The Land Commission, in turn, divided the land into 50 parcels of around 50 acres each. To purchase, buyers had to put $10 down and pay $10 an acre. Later, the price was dropped to $3.25 an acre. The nutrient-ridden soil could barely support crops for food, much less cash crops like cotton. Still, those black families who took advantage of the offer were fairly successful making a living on the exhausted land.

In 1870, 11 black families were living in the area. Some were able On behalf of the Commissioners of Public Works. past and present commissioners, managers, and employees, we would like to extend our congratulations to the County of Greenwood on their 100th anniversary. 20th century. Different parts of Greenwood County were hit at different times.

Many in Promised Land were forced out of cotton farming and into other crops such as corn, peas, peanuts and sweet potatoes. Others were forced out of farming completely and migrated north to the large cities for manufacturing jobs. Those non-farmers who remained found work in Greenwood and the surrounding communities. Many found their way to the recently-opened cotton mills. The Promised Land School served the community.

One teacher, Lizzie Chiles, taught children for nearly 50 years in a one-room school house. Because many students were needed in the fields, the school year started late and ended early. Most students went no further than the eighth grade because they were needed to work at home. Two churches, Mt. Zion A.M.E.

and Cross Road Baptist, have been fixtures in Promised Land. Mt. Zion Church was founded in 1875 after James Fields sold church leaders one acre of land for $40. Cross Road Baptist Church was founded in 1882 after Wells Gray sold church leaders two acres for $32. Also in 1882, Mt.

Zion bought a church bell. For nearly 100 years, the bell tolled community news, such as deaths, In 1980, the bell Jl MMj Travis Higginbotham Secretary Gene R. Hancock Vice-Chairman W. P. Thompson Chahman to, raise the $10 down payment and were eventually able to purchase the land.

Others, unable to come up with the money, worked the land as sharecroppers or tenant farmers. Sharecroppers lived on the land arid raised crops on the condition they give a portion of their crops to the landowner. By 1890, 89 families lived in Promised Land. The family names of the original settlers included Morton, Moragne, Nash, Smith, Greene, Goode and Wideman. The key attraction of the community was the opportunity for property ownership and the "promise" the future held as land owners.

Thus, the community became the "promised land" for those who were able to buy property. Another often-told origin for the community's name is false. According to the story, "the blacks bought the land from a white man and promised to pay but never did." Many Promised Land residents frown on that story because it perpetuates racial stereotypes. Promised Land flourished as a farming community until the early 1900s. In 1911, the price paid for cotton dropped around the world.

Pjus, the federal government placed new restrictions on planting. Despite the setbacks, cotton farming still continued to be profitable in the community. But, in 1919, the boll weevil sfruck Promised Land. Cotton crops were decimated by the voracious bpetle throughout the south and rrlidwest during the first half of the CPW was born on October 27, 1896, with a franchise from City Council granted first as the Greenwood Electric Light and Power Company. The services provided by CPW have continued to grow since the first water system was completed in 1899.

The first water and electric light plant was located at Yoe's Springs and furnished 15,000 gallons a day. Today the water source is Lake Greenwood and a recent expansion of the Lake Greenwood Water Treatment Plant provides a total capacity of 27 million gallons per day to the system. The CPW is proud of its accomplishments during the past 100 years and extends its deepest appreciation to the community of Greenwood. Because of YOU, we can look forward to meeting your water, gas, and electric needs in the twenty-first century. was painted gold and mounted on a concrete slab for display beside Mt.

Zion Church's current structure. i For many years, revivals and homecomings were held on the second Sunday in August. Former Promised Land residents who had moved elsewhere returned to renew old friendships and trade family news. But, the loss of the old school building as a community center has seen attendance lessen. Today, Promised Land has about 100 households.

It ceased to be a farming community in the 1950s. Still, it clings to its rural character. BAPTISTS: Greenwood denominations jjjjL m4 church moved west of the creek in 1852. The present sanctuary, located near the second site, dates was erected in 1953. Early church minutes, now in the Furman University historical collection, provide a valuable record of people and church practices.

Many cases of discipline are reported for absence from worship, drinking, dancing, fighting, and even for alleged rudeness in not speaking to a fellow member. Walnut Grove was in the Saluda Association and joined the Abbeville Association in 1896. In 1987, the church added an education wing which includes Sunday School rooms, church offices, and a large fellowship hall. In 1995, the church remodeled the sanctuary: A few years prior to this, the windows were replaced with stained glass. Continued from page 22A church was part of the Bethel Association until the Edgefield Association was formed in 1809.

Jn 1870, Providence became a charter rrjember of the Abbeville Association. A new building was dedicated in 1953 and a full-time pastor was obtained the following year. In 1978, the church dedicated a npw addition to the parsonage. On Sept. 13, 1987, the new multipurpose building "Sheppard Hall" was dedicated.

The church's 200th anniversary was celebrated Aug. 21, 1994. I WALNUT GROVE The Baptist Church of Christ at t(ie Walnut Grove on the Mulberry Creek was constituted June 24, 1826 with 18 members. Services were held under a brush arbor until a building was erected in 1832. The Water Electric Natural Gas Sewer Commissioners of Public Works 'Celebrating 100 years of service to Greenwood, South Carolina'.