WP church to celebrate National register placement

My wife went to church there all the time. I didn't go to church on Sunday, it just didn't go with me, but this was Tim's first church out of seminary and he talked me into it.”

Larry Buchholz - church elder

Presbyterian Church in West Point

The church has been named to the National Register of Historic Place and will be holding a ceremony Oct. 2 starting at 2 p.m. at 316 3rd Street in West Point.

WEST POINT - The one and only building in West Point to be named to the National Register of Historic Places will hold a celebration honoring the designation on Oct. 2.

Larry Buchholz, a 20-year elder at the Presbyterian Church at 316 3rd Street said the designation has been a long time coming.

"We were finally placed on the National Register of Historic Places," Buchholz said. "This started over a year ago and we're the only one on there in the city of West Point."

The celebration will take place October 2 with normal church services at 9 a.m. and then a gathering that will feature past ministers, guests and church members will start at 2 p.m. at the church. The public is invited.

The celebration will be followed with a reception at Sonny's Other Side for cake, ice cream, punch and fellowship.

Buchholz said the first church on the site was constructed pre-Civial War in 1836 and that church was operated until 1861 when a new church was built and that structure has been in existence ever since.

The church is the oldest Presbyterian church in the state of Iowa, he said.

"We've invited some of the ministers that were here that are still alive, and I'll be doing some reading of history," Buchholz said. "We'll also have some music in between. We have a guy, Tom Allen, from Keosauqua who sings and plays guitar and he's coming down to play for us.

"It won't be a real long ceremony, if it goes more than hour you start to lose poeple," Buchholz said with laugh.

He said he was a late comer to the church and had to be talked into going by former minister Tim Snark.

"My wife went to church there all the time. I didn't go to church on Sunday, it just didn't go with me, but this was Tim's first church out of seminary and he talked me into it," Buchholz said.

"I've been there for more than 20 years now."

The church over the years has been maintained by church members and elders. Buchholz said new windows and a new roof are the two main improvement he can remember.

He said he used to patch up the windows and keep them in the best condition he could, but at some point it was time to replace them.

He even remembers hearing that the original chandelier in the church was run by kerosene until electricty was run to the church. There was also an old pump organ that is still in use, but has since been converted to compressed air.

"My wife will be playing that at the ceremony," he said.

Buchholz said the church has had several fundraisers including putting in the new windows, and said the Catholic Church in town was very supportive.

"There isn't a lot of us Protestants in town, but we've been awfully lucky to have the support we've gotten from the Catholic Church."