The Ocoee Christian Church is a historic

Carpenter Gothic Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

in Ocoee,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It is located at 15 South Bluford Avenue. On March 28, 1997, it was added to the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The church is affiliated with the

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...

and is believed to be the oldest church of that denomination in continuous use in Florida.History of Ocoee Christian Church
/ref>

History

In 1883, the Ocoee Christian Church began in the home of General and Mrs. William Temple Withers. The couple made plans in 1889 to construct a church building on land donated by Captain and Mrs. Bluford Sims. Though General Withers died that same year before construction could commence, his widow and children continued with the construction of the church. By 1891 the congregation began to hold worship services in the newly constructed church.

Architecture

The Gothic sanctuary, designed by an architect in Boston, was designed with a similar, reduced scale floor plans as European Gothic cathedrals. The stained-glass chancel windows, dedicated to the memory of William T. Withers, were designed and assembled in Belgium. The windows traveled from Belgium to Jacksonville via New York. The windows traveled from Jacksonville to Sanford via the St. Johns River and finally by oxcart to Ocoee. The church's bell was cast in 1891 by the Shane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, Maryland.

References

External links

History of Ocoee Christian Church
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida Carpenter Gothic church buildings in Florida Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregations Churches in Orange County, Florida National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, Florida Ocoee, Florida Churches completed in 1891 1891 establishments in Florida {{Florida-church-stub