History

The Downtown Church of Christ has been located in Morrilton since the early 1900s when it began meeting in the Conway County Courthouse. The first meeting house was a small frame building on South Division Street, which was formerly the Conway County Library. By 1916, membership had reached about 30, and in 1922, a full-time minister was secured. In 1924, Harper College of Harper, Kansas, merged with Arkansas Christian College to form Harding College. From 1924 until 1934 all Sunday morning worship services were conducted in the college auditorium with Sunday evening services conducted in the Downtown building. Preachers and teachers from the college filled the pulpit during this time. In 1934, Harding College moved to Searcy, Arkansas; all services were then conducted at Downtown. There was no regular minister, but R.H. Johnson, an evangelist of Morrilton, preached once or twice a month. The membership by this time had increased to about 60.

In 1936, Southern Christian Home moved to Morrilton from Fort Smith, Arkansas, which doubled the attendance. Two years later, the north part of the present main building was begun in October and completed in June of the following year.

The present auditorium was built in 1957, and four classrooms were added. In 1966, the S.R. McKinley home, just west of the building, was purchased and served as the minister’s home for a few years. It was then used for additional classrooms and a fellowship hall until it was removed to make way for the 1996 addition.

In 1977, the Gordon and Malone property to the west was purchased and turned into additional parking space, and since that time, property on the north has been acquired and provided even more parking space.

The Downtown Church of Christ celebrated the dedication of its Family Life Center in 1996 with an open house and homecoming. The 4860 square foot hall is equipped with basketball goals at either end. It opens into a well-equipped kitchen with commercial equipment.
The Downtown Church of Christ has a regular Sunday morning attendance of about 300, and is served by ten elders and sixteen deacons.