City Directories and History: The old Hickory Grove A.R.P. Church….
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Dec. 19, 1888 – “The organization of the ARP church at Hickory Grove has been completed. On Dec. 1st the Session of the Smyra Church transferred twenty-four members to Hickory Grove. Officers have been elected and a building committee appointed which will begin seeking property for the church. Elders are Moses White, J.N. McDill, and J.W. Castles. Decons are J.H. Wylie, and J.C. Wylie.”
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on June 26, 1889 – “The Hickory Grove ARP Church is currently holding services in the school house but they are building a handsome church on the corner of Broad Street and Wylie Avenue. The contractors are Pursely and Smith. There will be a gallery across the church similar to the ARP church in Yorkville. The steeple will be 80 ft high.”
HICKORY GROVE ORPHANAGE
Researched and written for R&R.com by Paul Gettys, 8.12.19
Between 1897 and 1905, an orphanage was operated in the Town of Hickory Grove by the Associate Reformed Presbyterian (ARP) denomination. Members of the small denomination began to discuss the need for an orphanage in the early 1890s, but money for such an endeavor was not available. In 1895, Rev. John Patterson Knox and his wife Louisa Brice Knox were serving the ARP churches in Hickory Grove and Smyrna, small towns in western York County. A native of Mecklenburg County, N. C., Rev. Knox had served as a supply preacher in Virginia before coming to York County for his first pastorate. Rev. Knox, feeling led by God, developed a plan for providing a home to minister to children who had lost their parents. A house was rented in Hickory Grove, remodeled, and opened for use on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1897. The orphanage was called Hickory Grove Orphanage, and in some cases was referred to as the Grier Orphanage.
The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Aug 26, 1891 – “The ARP congregations of Smyrna and Hickory Grove have purchased the house recently built by Mr. John Morrow to be used as a parsonage.”
Although at first the orphanage was not at first an official institution of the ARP denomination, it was supported through appeals for funding from local ARP churches. The Rev. John Hemphill Simpson, who had held pastorates in a number of ARP churches, was recruited to become the superintendent. A native of Chester County, he married Mary Elizabeth Moffatt, also from Chester County. They, along with their daughter Lois Simpson, moved to Hickory Grove and took up the work of the orphanage. Lois served as matron. A Board of Directors was appointed, and included Rev. Knox as Chairman, Hon. D. E. Finley, Mr. B. T. White, and Mr. J. N. McDill.
In 1900, the Hickory Grove Orphanage became an official ministry of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian denomination, following action by the General Synod meeting. This gave the young institution an opportunity for a greatly expanded source of financial support. By 1903, the orphanage was serving 16 children. The children were a special ministry for Rev. Knox, and attended church services at the Hickory Grove ARP Church. From the beginning the institution was limited for space in the house being used and by having only 2.5 acres for land.
In 1903, a family in western Tennessee also felt the need for developing an orphanage serving the western sections of the ARP denomination. At the death of William H. Dunlap, his sister and daughter undertook a plan to donate the family’s farm to the denomination for use as an orphanage. This was accepted by the Synod, and along with another gift, the land totaled 336 acres and included a new home which had been built by the Dunlap family. The farm provided fertile land for use by the orphanage, where boys could assist in raising food and livestock for the institution. Located about thirty miles north of Memphis near Atoka, Tennessee, it was near an urban area and a cluster of ARP churches. The Dunlap Home for Children opened in 1904.
Because the Dunlap Home had more land and a better house, efforts began to consolidate the two orphanages operated by the ARP church. A new Board of Directors was created with Mr. J. G. McCain as chairman. In January 1905, the Hickory Grove orphanage was closed and Rev. Simpson and Lois his daughter, along with fifteen children, traveled to west Tennessee to the newly consolidated campus.
Although it was located in Hickory Grove for just a few years, it was an important effort to serve children who needed physical and spiritual support.
Information for this article was taken from “History of Dunlap Orphanage” by Prof. J. T. Fee found on pages 35-41 of the Sesquicentennial History of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, published by the General Synod, 1951.
From the Rock Hill Herald, November 28, 1900
The Grier Orphanage Should be Remembered on Thanksgiving
To the editor of the Rock Hill Herald,
Please allow me the privilege of speaking to the public through the pages of the Herald in behalf of the Grier Orphanage, at Hickory Grove, York County, S. C. It is the youngest in the South and its very youthfulness appeals strongly to all who love to help the poor. It is now under the care of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. National Thanksgiving days come but once a year, and it is a favorable time for a highly favored people to show their gratitude and their religion also, by giving to the poor. I hope the fatherless in this and every other orphanage will be made thankful and comfortable by the thank offerings on next Thursday. Those under my care are holding out their hands to receive anything that will be good for their souls and bodies. The first thing that a child needs to make it comfortable in this life is something to eat
and wear. All of these things or money are needed at the Grier Orphanage.
John H. Simpson, Supt.
Hickory Grove, S. C.
November 23, 1900
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