One of the Oldest Churches West of the Mississippi Celebrates 175 Years

The founders of Elm Grove Baptist Church were enslaved, but they were determined to worship the God they trusted through the cruelty and brutality that defined so much of their lives. It was 1843, more than two decades before President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, when they formed their own church in Jefferson County, Arkansas near Pine Bluff. Almost two centuries later, the doors of the church they started are still open.

“Because the church was situated around a lot of elm trees, that’s how they came up with the name,” says Pastor Jesse Turner.

Turner became the pastor in the late 1990s after serving for several years as the assistant to Reverend David D. Walker.

“I was there for five, six years or so,” Turner recalls. “Rev. Walker lost his sight, and I was there to read for him and do whatever he needed. I did that for him…carried on with Bible Study under his leadership. And when his health deteriorated, and he could not carry out the duties of the church, they elected me.”

Elm Grove Legacy

Turner inherited a small congregation or a “remnant” as he describes it. He adds, “It’s not a large congregation. Many members are family members. I’m just proud to be there serve in any way I can.”

90-year-old Ora Foster Roby joined the church in the 1920s when she was a little girl.

“Sunday school was at 9:30, I can recall. Service was around 11:00,” says Roby. “And, there was singing and patting your feet on a wooden floor. That was our music. The Pastor would get up and take his text, and the Spirit was already there because the deacons had prayed, and the choir had sung. We had a Hallelujah time.”

The church also doubled as the school for the children in the area. Decades later, 99-year-old Marie Franklin, who attended the school, still speaks fondly of those years.

“Friday evenings, the boys would put things back in place for church,” she says. “At that time, some of the older people had passed away, but we had a good size membership.”

Roby recalls, “I was glad to have a church…it meant so much to me to have somewhere to go. I just loved to go. People would go to church then…some of them still go, but back in those days, people worked in the fields all week, and they were glad to get together.”

According to Dr. Dennis Dickerson, history professor at Vanderbilt University, “Black churches in the North and the South served as an aegis for African Americans. They were a venue for fellowship and support, psychological and financial. It was a place where one could go to talk about their life stories and difficulties within a sympathetic crowd.”

Rebuilding After the Storm

In 1939 a tornado hit the area and destroyed the church.

“It hit the house so quick, and it was so dark…I couldn’t even see my hand,” Roby says about the storm. “I could hear the nails pulling loose from the lumber. It blew me out of the house across the road. It was raining and hailing, and I tried to get up, but I couldn’t get up because I was broken up.”

Roby and her sister along with others in the area were seriously injured, and according to newspaper accounts in The Daily Graphic, several people were killed.

The doctor predicted Roby would walk bent over and never have children. She beat the odds. She walked upright and is the mother of 10 children.

Members of the church decided to rebuild. In 1965 they relocated to Pine Bluff and raised money to purchase a bell to place in front of the building by selling apples for a nickel.

This weekend the church will celebrate its 175th anniversary, making it the oldest African American church in Arkansas.

“It tells us something about the family and community resilience and the sheer determination of the people to keep the church alive,” Dickerson says. “In a host of communities, you will see churches of that size maintained, and that is quite remarkable.”

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson calls Elm Grove a “beacon of hope and truth” in his congratulatory letter which will be read during service this Sunday. The state Attorney General’s office is expected to deliver a special gift. And, Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington is issuing a proclamation, recognizing the church.

For 72 years Roby was a member of Elm Grove Baptist. And, even though she lives in another city to be closer to her children, she still thinks about the church.

“I pray for Elm Grove and the pastor and the members every night,” she says. “I pray that the church will continue to grow. And keep on keeping on.”