The history of Holmesville Baptist Church goes back to 1826 when 8 people gathered on the hill 2 miles west of Holmesville to organize the Free Will Baptist Church. No records tell where the meetings were held, but likely it was in the various folks’ homes, and possibly in the country schoolhouse.. Two years later a powerful revival was held and 100 souls were saved and a large number of them joined the church.
Encouraged by the work of the Lord, the people built a meeting house in the vicinity. Records indicate the location was at the corner of Holmesville Hill Road and the Wightman Road— over a mile from our present location. For 34 years worship continued at that location until a new church was built in Holmesville in 1862. Across the road from the church was the local school house which was used on Sundays for Sunday School classes.
In 1953 the Holmesville Baptist Church joined the fellowship of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, and in 1959 they joined the fellowship of the Empire State Association of Regular Baptist Churches.
On May 5, 1966 the church held a special business meeting and voted to purchase land and pursue a building program. Three committees made up the building committee, Legal: Claude Carpenter, Carle Pike, and Bernard Smith; Finance: Earle Cummings, George Burman, and Keith Stevens; and Construction: Robert Cloyd, Robert Manley, Rupert Hunt, John Ludlam, Richard Meade, and Arnold Thomsen.
In 1967 the men of the church were asked to help take down the old school house building to make room for a new church facility. Work proceeded rapidly and in October, 1968 the new church building was dedicated with the opening services. By this time the assembly had been named the Holmesville Baptist Church.
In 1972 the old 1862 church building, which had been sold for a machine shop, was destroyed by a fire. The owner decided to relocate to a larger piece of land rather than rebuild, so he sold the property back to the Church for $1.00.
In September, 1973 the Church opened its doors to the Holmesville Christian Academy. Consideration was given to the building of a school on the old church property, but it was deemed to be too small of an area for a school that would have to include parking and a playground. As a result efforts were made to purchase property adjoining the Church. After some searches were made the church was able to purchase a parcel of land on Holmesville Hill Road from Mr. Christman. To make it possible to have access from the old church lot, a section of an old rail road bed was purchased from Mr. Eccleston. The Christman property was excavated in 1974 for the construction of a gymnasium. Later more excavation made it possible to have an athletic field and a lot for the current parsonage. The Academy continued operation through the school year 2002 when it was decided to close the school due to finances.
Over the more than 185 years the church has experienced many “ups and downs.” For a while in the 1930’s it appeared the church may close, but some faithful believers, with the help of some visiting speakers, kept the church going.
In recent years much has been done to improve the facilities of the church. A bus garage was built for our bus ministry. The garage was used for a while for gym classes for the Holmesville Christian Academy until the gymnasium was built. While we no longer have a bus ministry, the garage serves as a shop area and as a place for craft time during Daily Vacation Bible school.
Rev. Romeyn Kipp was called to pastor the church in June, 1970 and continued until ####