First Presbyterian Church of Punta Gorda -- 130 Years Young

The First Presbyterian Church of Punta Gorda now sits on Airport Road across from the current location of the Masonic Lodge of Punta Gorda.  Ironically, it was in the original masonic hall in downtown Punta Gorda that the church was organized on October 13, 1895.  This year the congregation will celebrate its 130th anniversary.  

Construction of the first church building began in December of 1900 on Harvey Street across from where the City Hall now stands on land purchased from Isaac Trabue.  It was dedicated on April 14, 1901 with Clarence H. Ferran as the first minister.  

For sixty years, the old wood-frame church building served the community, surviving at least two major hurricanes in 1921 and 1926, when almost all buildings in Punta Gorda sustained damage. Then on September 10, 1960 Hurricane Donna hurled into the city and ripped the steeple from the church and damaged the building beyond repair. A year later a new modern church was built at the same location on Harvey.  

Then on Sunday, August 7, 2005 long time members of the church took their seats in folded chairs in the parking lot of the 2nd church sanctuary of the church for the last time before that building was also demolished.  A year before on August 13, 2004, Hurricane Charley left the building in such a state, it couldn't be repaired to satisfy code requirements.

Over its history the congregation has included many prominent Punta Gordas including A.B. Tucker, Norma Pepper, H.W. Smith, Vasco and Lois Peeples, Vernon Peeples, John T. Rose, Dr. Robert Shedd, Frank Smoak Jr., Edwin Roundtree and Lindsey Williams among others.  

Updated March 28, 2025 by T. Murtha

Sunday Church History - Punta Gorda Region’s First Church

 

The first church to form a congregation in  the Punta Gorda region was the Trinity United Methodist in Charlotte Harbor.  The church, originally located at what was then called Hickory Bluff (thought to have been near current day Melbourne St. ) was chartered in 1873 as a member of the Tampa Methodist Episcopal District.   This was years before Isaac Trabue bought the land across the river that would become the town of Punta  Gorda in 1887.  

The current structure is the fourth church sanctuary.  The church moved to its present location at Seneca and Parmely in 1889 on a lot provided by Mathieu and Mary Giddens A two-room school was also built next to it. This second church building was destroyed by a hurricane in 1910, and a third structure was severely damaged to yet another storm.  The 1926 Miami hurricane, which flooded the streets of Punta Gorda, blew the church off its foundation.  

While it was recovered at that time, in 1944, a strong wind caused the building to badly sway.  

So finally a fourth building was erected of masonry construction, third on the current site, and dedicated on Nov. 9, 1950.

(Information from article by Frank Desguin, Charlotte Sun) 

The First Sacred Heart Church

On Sunday, January 5, 1930 while light streamed through its windows onto the altar and the violin solo of Harry Goldstein played, the first Sacred Heart Church sanctuary was dedicated. Largely funded by members of the Fort Myers Catholic Church through loans and donations including a prominent Catholic, Richmond Dean, who wintered in Fort Myers, the church was only 50 x 50 feet.

Bishop Barry of St. Augustine presided over the dedication with the assistance of other priests including Father Carroll who was the rector in Arcadia and also in charge of the new church in Punta Gorda.  

The small church served as the parish church until 1964 when it was replaced by a larger church, mostly destroyed in 2004 by Hurricane Charley.

Punta Gorda's First Church Service and the Beginnings of the Bethel AME Church

Shortly after the first passenger train arrived in Trabue in July of 1886, Dan Smith, a black man, organized the first religious service in the town. He, with the help of other African Americans in the survey crew, including Sam Kenedy, and men named Graham, Fuller and Ransom,  hired by Albert W. Gilchrist, then a young engineer, erected a palmetto thatched roof shelter for the service.  It was attended by the crew as well as other African Americans and their families already living in Trabue including Isaac Howard, A.G. Reese, S.P. Andrews, Lynn and Rhoda Jackson and Henry Simmons.  Several white families also attended said to have included Isaac and Virginia Trabue, Jacob Wotitzky, Ephraim Goldstein, James Sandlin and their wives. This event led to the establishment of the Bethel AME Church. 

The African American religious community continued to meet informally under the arbor until Isaac Trabue bequeathed some land for the newly organized African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1888. Witness to the transaction was M.T.B. Thomas, the first pastor; Dan Smith, the trustee for the church; and James Sandlin.  Lumber was paid for by Jacob Wotitzky, and Smith and other congregation members built the first sanctuary at Helen Avenue and Milus.  Robert Meacham, postmaster in Punta Gorda, who had organized the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the State of Florida, served as Pastor of the Bethel Church from 1890 to 1892. 

In 1897, a new church was built at Olympia and Wood Streets, unfortunately, destroyed by Hurricane Donna.  A later church structure was severely damaged in Hurricane Charley. Then, in 2006, the current church edifice was dedicated at 260 E. Olympia.   The current pastor is Rev. Frankie S. Fayson III. 

The First United Methodist Church of Punta Gorda is 130

You won't recognize the building that once stood near where the First United Methodist Church of Punta Gorda stands today. Now its actually part of residence on Harvey Street. But this building was the original home of the Methodist Church and the first church building (actually used by several religions) in Trabue now Punta Gorda.

On Sunday mornings on the far-flung Florida frontier of the 1800s before Isaac Trabue landed on the shores of the Peace River, there were no church buildings for people to gather for worship. Preachers typically arrived on horseback or sometimes in a wagon if roads permitted. The communities they served comprised a “circuit”, attached to a church in larger town. Most of these circuit-riding ministers were associated with the Methodist faith and it was they who brought the Methodist Church to Florida and places like Punta Gorda.

But the new settlers of Trabue expected a real town with a real church and a school and a place for the people to meet and socialize, and they began demanding just that. So, in 1886, Isaac Trabue provided the land in block 29 for a building that would serve for a time as a multi-denominational church, school and community center. It was then Judge G.W. McLane and F.M. Durrance who spearheaded the movement that led to the establishment of the First United Methodist Church of Punta Gorda in that building in 1887.

Durrance, a local preacher and customs officer for the port of Charlotte Harbor, acted as the church’s pastor until Rev. W.C. Jordan was assigned to the church that December. The first record of members being received was in July of the same year, the first official members were G.W. and Emma McLane.  Initially, the Baptists, Presbyterians and other denominations worshipped along with the Methodists in the communal sanctuary, until 1889 when the building was deeded over for sole use as the United Methodist Church (though apparently the Presbyterians continued to worship there for a time).

Construction began in 1912 of a new church, near the old one that had been badly damaged in the 1910 hurricane. Mostly built by 1914, it was used in an unfinished state until finally completed around 1920. It now stands with its beautiful stain glass window as a beacon and landmark for Punta Gorda’s historic district.  And the old building:  remnants of the sanctuary were discovered at a residence on Harvey Street where it had been moved in around 1914.