Springhill Baptist Church will celebrate 100 years of worship and service to the community at a 12:30 p.m. reception Sunday.
Located just south of Fouke, Ark., the original church building burned on the morning of May 14, 2002. On Feb. 2, 2003, members worshipped for the first time in a newly constructed building, which was dedicated April 20, 2003.
The church was established in the late 1890s, according to local historian Frank McFerrin.
Springhill also served as a school, complete with its own basketball team, from about 1900 until the late 1930s or early 1940s, when it was consolidated with Fouke School District.
The original building, a wooden structure, was renovated for the first time in the 1920s. At that time, the church house was added onto, and the exterior was red brick.
The building was renovated again in the 1940s and painted white.
Until the late 1970s, the church still featured only outdoor toilets; it was then that a large fellowship hall, including modern restrooms, was built at the back of the church. The fellowship hall was renovated again in the 1990s, when a full kitchen was added.
Four separate Springhill families-the Burgesses, Pilgreens, Coker/Suttons and Peavys-can boast five generations of members as part of the Springhill Baptist congregation.