Tirzah Presbyterian celebrates a century

Worshipers at Tirzah Presbyterian don’t have much tangible history of their church. The original wooden structure that stood on this site on Tirzah Road was torn down in the ’50s, and the only photo anyone can find from that time shows only a portion of the building.

But what they do have are long memories among the membership that stretch back almost to the church’s founding, when a handful of farming families met in an open-air grove to form a local Presbyterian congregation. It was the Fourth of July, 1915.

On Sunday, Tirzah marked its centennial with a service that brought back former pastors and several families that have worshiped there for generations.

Without any photos to commemorate the original church that housed their congregation for some 40 years, church member and artist Larry Blackwell depended on the memories of some of the oldest living members to create a portrait that was prominently displayed outside the sanctuary on Sunday.

“I’ve already been told by some that I left something off,” Blackwell said.

The painter spoke with 15 different parishioners about what they remembered of the original church they attended as children. He had to meet with several who “don’t go out too much” anymore at their homes to get the details right. Some confused details about the church with an older one-room schoolhouse that stood nearby and hosted worship services before the first church was built.

“I would show them one version and they would say, ‘no, the windows are too short,’” Blackwell said. “It took me three copies before I could get a majority to agree with it.”

Margie McCarter is one of those who can remember the old church, which she started attending as a child in 1941. The structure was raised off the ground on brick supports with the entrance at the top of a sloping hillside. Two small study rooms stood on either side of the entrance, which then led worshipers past the pulpit as they entered the sanctuary.

“When you came in, you could see all the people sitting there watching you,” McCarter said, although she does remember a rear stairway leading into a study room behind all those the pews.

“You could come in that way if you were late,” she said.

McCarter is just one of several members at Tirzah who can testify to the church’s long history. Jane Harper beat her church to the century mark when she turned 100 earlier this spring. An official history of the church compiled for the 100th anniversary included memories from Joe Gettys, one of the church’s original members who went on to become a minister and professor at Presbyterian College, who shared his experiences from his retirement home in Clinton at the age of 108.

The more modern, brick-faced church that replaced the older wooden one still stands on Tirzah Road, along with an attached youth room, even after the current, larger meeting place used now was constructed next door a decade ago.

Rev. Richard Carr, the church’s current pastor, said the ’90s were a boom time for the church as Tirzah shifted from a more rural community to a suburban one as homeowners spilled out of more developed areas. The church’s 140-strong congregation today includes a mix of older, long-time residents on the one hand, and younger newcomers and their children on the other.

A changing community means the church has to reach out to meet the needs and expectations of those new residents.

“How can we be more supportive of parents and families?” Carr said. “Going to church is not a given anymore. You’ve got to reach out to people.”

Longtime member Aubrey Burns says the growth of the area has already kept the church from dying out along with some of its older members.

“If it wasn’t for everybody coming down here from Buffalo, the church wouldn’t be here,” Burns said.

Blackwell is a late addition to the church himself. Even though he remembers the old schoolhouse hosting his Boy Scout troop before it came down in the ’60s, he attended a different church until one Sunday he decided to give Tirzah a try and never left.

“The people here are so friendly, I felt like I’d come here all the time.”

This story was originally published July 5, 2015 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Tirzah Presbyterian celebrates a century."