Ingleside Baptist Church

Ingleside Baptist Church was started on the present grounds in the year 1916.

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The present church was the outgrowth of a brush arbor meeting at what was then called Bennet's Crossing. When the brush arbor meeting closed, it was decided to continue to hold services in the old Ingleside School house which was close by.

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The church was duly organized in 1917, and a one room church house was constructed on the side of a dirt road which was later designated as US 176. The lumber for this building was brought to the site by wagon from Polk County, North Carolina.

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After US 176 was paved and cars became more plentiful, the church was found to be too close to the highway.

In the early 1950's, the building was moved back away form the road to the present location and Sunday School rooms were added underneath. This wood frame building served the congregation until 1971.

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Through the efforts and vision of former pastors, a building fund was started for the purpose of building a new church house. Being unable to purchase land nearby to build upon, the program was delayed.

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Rev. Joe Holbert was in the Landrum Leader office in February of 1971, and while there told J. W. Lawrence, the editor and owner of the Landrum Leader, of our problem; that in order to build a new church house we had to tear the old building down and had no place to worship while this was being done. Mr. Lawrence remarked that he might could help. He being on the board of Landrum Sports Association, the owners of Palmetto Gym, contacted the board members and through his efforts and the cooperation of this community minded group of men, Palmetto Gym was offered as a place of worship. The church accepted this offer and moved into the gym in March. The contract for the new building was signed by the church on may 6th and the first service was held in the new church house October 31, 1971.

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In the summer of 1999, under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Everett Wallace, construction began of the present expansion, and was completed in the spring of 2000.