Okie Legacy

The Churches of Alva

The Christian Church

The Congregational Church (Click image for larger view)

The Presbyterian Church

The Old Union Church

First Preaching in Alva -- The first sermon ever preached in Alva (or Woods county, so far as the Alva Pioneer knew in 1904) was preached at 11 a.m. Sunday, September 17, 1893, by Rev. F. P. Semands, a Missionary Baptist minister from Kiowa, Ks, and he stood on a box at the front (north end) of the U. S. Land Office building and delivered a splendid address to a bery large audience. The Alva Pioneer newspaper was unable to learn the present address of of Rev. Semands back in 1904 or get his photograph for their "souvenir" edition printed in January 1904. Some claim that Rev. Cain, a Baptist minister from Medicine Lodge, preached in the forenoon, and Rev. Semands in the afternoon of the same day but the Alva Pioneer newspaper had no doubt that Rev. Semands was the first.

The United Brethen

Oklahoma Church Statistics

[Information taken from the 1904 Souvenir Edition - of the Alva Pioneer, Friday, Jan. 1, 1904, Vol. 11, No. 16, Alva, Woods Co., Oklahoma. W. F. Hatfield, Publisher Daily and Weekly Pioneer editor, sold the "Souvenir Edition" in 1904 for 50-Cents. It was printed to celebrate Alva's 10th anniversary since the opening of 1893.]