First Presbyterian Church (Augusta, Georgia)

First Presbyterian Church of Augusta
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
First Presbyterian Church in 2017
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Location	642 Telfair Street, Augusta, Georgia
Coordinates	33°28′13″N 81°57′54″W / 33.47028°N 81.96500°W / 33.47028; -81.96500Coordinates: 33°28′13″N 81°57′54″W / 33.47028°N 81.96500°W / 33.47028; -81.96500
Built	1812
Architect	Robert Mills
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival
NRHP reference #	97000100
Added to NRHP	February 21, 1997

97000100

First Presbyterian Church is an historic Presbyterian church located at 642 Telfair Street in Augusta, Georgia in the United States.

The church was established in 1804, and the building was completed in 1812. In 1808, while the congregation was still holding services at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, members helped start a church in Smyrna in Wilkes County. In 1925 the Ladies' Foreign Missionary Society already was collecting donations, making it the first such ministry in the world, according to the statistics of the church. During his childhood, United States president Woodrow Wilson's father, Joseph R. Wilson, was minister at First Presbyterian from 1858 to 1870. The Woodrow Wilson Boyhood Home is a historic site nearby. In 1861 the Church hosted the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States and the first minister in this new denomination was President Wilson's father. During the Civil War the building was used as a hospital for men wounded, and the churchyard was a detention camp for Union prisoners in the Battle of Chickamauga. Men who died were buried in the Magnolia Cemetery. During this time Joseph Wilson was called to the chaplain ministry in the army, and in 1870 Wilson was called to serve at a seminary in South Carolina.

Westminster Day School was started in 1972. The campus of Westminster Schools, located on Wheeler Road, now has more than 500 pupils, grades K–4 through 12. First Presbyterian Church started a missions conference, and the annual event is a combination retreat and workshop for missionaries and their families. It also is an opportunity for the people of Augusta to hear about work in the field.

In 1973, First Presbyterian dropped its affiliation with the Southern Presbyterian Church over issues, such as the authority of scripture and the role of women in the church, and became independent. It aligned itself with the Presbyterian Church in America in 1977.

Later the church served as a center of social and religious activities during World War I and World War II.