City Directories and History: 1908 – Rev. Wm. C. Ewart – minister, 1958 – Not listed, 1966 – Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in York (A.R.P. church of York) was organized in 1853 and built a permanent meeting house on East Madison Street in 1855. It was a large wooden building and stood adjoining the lot the present building occupies. Built in 1913, the present church is classically designed. This brick building
Etching of the A.R.P. church in 1912 – Courtesy of the Historical Center
features heavy dental molding on the cornice, a raised sunburst, Ionic columns to support the portico, and a raised granite foundation. [Courtesy of the Yorkville Historical Society – 2002]
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on July 27, 1882 – “Mr. W.W. Jenkins has let a contract for building a storehouse on his lot on the corner of Congress Street and East Madison Street.”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Feb. 22, 1883 – “Mr. W.W. Jenkins has built a neat one story house on the corner of Congress and Madison.” (1908 – Wm. W. Jenkins – grocer w wife Margaret)
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on June 15, 1892 that Rev. J. C. Galloway [pastor of the Yorkville ARP Church] leaves for Due West next Friday to attend a meeting of the board of trustees of Erskine College, and while there will take part in the exercises in connection with the laying of the cornerstone of the new building. There will be an address by Mr. W. A. Lee of Abbeville and the response will be by Rev. R. G. Miller of Mecklenburg, vice-president of the board of trustees.
The postal map of York County, S.C. in 1896 – Courtesy of the UN. of N.C.
*** Note on the 1910 Sanborn Map the ARP Church is not yet at this location, listed as #159 N. Congress, a substantial dwelling.
The Rock Hill Record reported on March 12, 1908 – “For some months the officers and members of the ARP Church at Yorkville have been discussing the advisability of remodeling the old church or building a new one. Last Sunday at a congregational meeting it was unanimously voted to build a new church at the cost of $10,000. Several sites are being looked at.”
WILLIAM I. CLAWSON, Esq.
“William I. Clawson was chosen first intendant (mayor) of Yorkville when the town’s charter was issued in December, 1849. (Yorkville was incorporated on Dec. 17, 1841, but the plan of organization was not implemented for eight years.) Mr. Clawson was born on Feb. 22, 1815, about four miles north of the present site of Rock Hill in the Indian-Land portion of York District, S.C., the son of Dr. Jacob H. Clawson. He was the eldest child of a family of four children. He died on Dec. 22, 1877, at the residence of his son-in-law, Capt. John Wilson Marshall, near Fort Mill, S.C.
At an early age William Clawson was enrolled in the Ebenezer Academy, conducted at that time by Meredith Shurley. After finishing the regular courses there, he entered Randolph Macon College, in Virginia, where he remained for three years. He returned home then and soon took up residence in Yorkville in order to read law under the tutelage of George W. Williams, Esq., one of the finest attorneys in South Carolina. In 1837 he was admitted to the Bar, having received from Mr. Williams the best training in his chosen field. For the next two years he was associated in the practice of law with his mentor. In 1839 he was elected to the office of Commissioner in Equity for York District, a position he held for three successive terms. Mr. Clawson was elected to the House of Representatives of the South Carolina legislature in 1852. After four years in the House, he retired from politics and resumed the practice of law, engaging also in the farming of a large farm near Yorkville. In June, 1867, he was commissioned Registrar in Bankruptcy for York County, a position he held until the time of his death.
Mr. Clawson was a long-time member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Yorkville. His residence was located on the southeast comer of East Madison and Congress streets, where the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church is now located. He was twice married: first in 1840 to Martha Jane Williams, daughter of Col. Thomas Williams, Jr., former Lieutenant Govemor of South Carolina, and his wife, Martha White Crawford; and second to ( ~ ) Fair, of Newberry, S.C. At Mr. Clawson’s death, the Yorkville Enquirer had this to say of him: “In his public career, as well as in the private walk of life, Mr. Clawson was essentially an old-time Carolina gentleman. Strict and upright in the discharge of his duties; an industrious, indomitable worker, courteous and affable in manner; of liberal mind and public spirit. His loss will be deplored by the entire community.” Information from: The Genesis of York, by Wm. B. White, Jr., Yorkville Historical Society, 2015 – Jostens Publishing Company
See the written History Link (PDF) of the church, under the primary image.
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