Westminster Presbyterian Church (Druid Hills)

Westminster Presbyterian Church (Druid Hills) was a Presbyterian church which met at 1305 25th Street North in Druid Hills from 1904 to 1915.

The congregation was founded as a 24th Street Mission from First Presbyterian Church to serve members living in the North Highlands area. It originally met in a frame building erected on a lot donated by Walter Moore on the northeast corner of 24th Street at 10th Avenue North.

In June 1904 it was granted permission by the North Alabama Presbytery to establish a separate church, under the name of Westminster. C. E. Raynal led the initial group of 23 members as pastor.

By 1915 the church had outgrown its frame building, but as a matter of policy refused to indebt itself to build a larger one and was raising funds toward that end. That same year Handley Memorial Presbyterian Church, which had been meeting at 1724 5th Avenue North, had their 1890 building condemned. At Westminster's invitation, the congregations decided to merge.

The combined congregations took the name of the older Handley Memorial Presbyterian Church, and began meeting in together in Westminster's 1904 building on May 16. They dedicated the new building on April 26, 1921, having relocated services in the meantime to Temple Emanu-El, at the invitation of Samuel Ullman.

References

• "The History of the Women's Auxiliary of Handley Memorial Presbyterian Church" typescript (April 1938), attached to Works Progress Administration Survey of State and Local Historical Records for Handley Memorial Presbyterian Church, held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History (link)