History

The first Presbyterian minister to come to Letcher County was the Rev. J.E. Stevenson, who arrived in 1891. He was followed by T.D. Witherspoon, who was here in 1895 and 1896. At about the same time the Methodist Church had circuit riders in the county. The local Presbyterian Church was founded by a group of worshippers assembled by the Rev. Edward
O. Guerrant, an evangelist who arrived in Whitesburg on May 6, 1896. After holding several services he organized the church on May 14, and ordained J. Wash Adams as ruling elder and J. Hopp Gibson as a deacon; they had been elected by the congregation of 12 members. Adams apparently was the only Presbyterian in the county when Guerrant arrived. The other members were Ella Jane, Birdie, Emma and Lou M. Vermillion, Josephine and Mattie Fitzgerald., Callie Long, Mary Wess, Rebecca Quillen, Sallie Ison and Mattie Brashears.

There was no church building of any denomination in Whitesburg at the time, so the congregation met in the courthouse.

In December 1896 the congregation tried to set up a school but the effort failed. In September of 1899 the congregation added 36 members during a revival and by the end of 1900 a Presbyterian Church was organized at Tillie and 28 members were transferred there.

The first church building constructed here was on Church Street next door to the home now occupied by James Fields. Records show it cost $950. In 1903 that building burned and it was rebuild in 1905. Hopp Gibson constructed both buildings. The current Graham Memorial Presbyterian Church was built during the 1930's depression under the leadership of
the Rev. O.V. Caudill, who became pastor of the Church in 1927. Caudill was pastor for 13 years, longer than any other minister of the church. At one time the construction had to stop because there was no money to continue it. But in 1934 it was resumed. Gibson was the carpenter for the church, and Joe Romeo supervised the Italian stonemasons who erected the stone walls. Architects from a firm in Lexington designed the building. In the 1930's attendance at the mens' Bible class ran between 85 and 200 persons. The group met in the basement of the Daniel Boone Hotel.

When construction of the church building resumed part of the financing was a gift from Mary Graham of Mason, Va., who came here to visit and made two large donations. The building later was named for her and is still know as Graham Memorial Presbyterian Church.

Caudill had some ingenious ways of getting money to finance the church construction. He sold stock certificates with values of $1 to $1,000. Women patched coins or bills onto sheets beneath the squares of fabric and when the sheets were filled the money was removed. They also sold dinners to benefit the church. The building was completed in 1936.

Caudill also was responsible for construction of a stone cabin on Pine Mountain as a recreation cabin for the congregation; it burned a few years ago. And he built a small stone church on US 119 in the Cumberland River valley, which still survives. He left Letcher county in 1939 to work for the Presbyterian Synod of North Carolina, where he continued to build churches. By 1934 the church had outpost Sunday Schools at Eolia, Cumberland Valley, and Isom. The Whitesburg Congregation had 120 members and there were 300 in the Sunday School.

The church was supported by the Presbyterian Board of Missions until the 1950's when the local congregation assumed full
responsibility for it.

In 1982 the church building was declared a national historical monument.