Home NewsletterCalendar History

History of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Wilson, North Carolina

Wilson's Episcopalians received their first deacon, William Murphy, in 1856. Before that they had to travel more than twenty miles of rough road to Calvary Church in Tarboro.

In the 1850s Wilson was a village of about 250 persons. Bishop Thomas Atkinson held the first service here on October 29, 1855, preaching at the Methodist Church. Regular church services began a few months later, when the bishop sent Deacon Murphy. On April 3, 1856, the bishop returned to celebrate the first confirmation in the parish. Worship services were held in the old Masonic Lodge on Lodge Street. St. Timothy's was admitted to the diocese in 1859. The land for a building was acquired in 1860, and a frame church was completed at a cost of $3,000 in 1861. It was consecrated by Bishop Lyman on April 23, 1863, the debt having been retired as a result of contributions from other parishes. The parish at this time comprised ten communicants.

In the 1880s Wilson began to prosper from the increase of transportation and commerce. With an energetic rector (Benjamin Bronson) and a faithful senior warden (Thomas Davis, warden for fifty years), the church built a rectory, added a narthex, and enlarged the vestry room.
As the nineteenth century drew to a close, Wilson was becoming an important marketplace for bright-leaf tobacco. St. Timothy's congregation was outgrowing its original frame building. The first service in the new building (a baptism) took place on January 19, 1908, though the official opening was not until Easter Sunday, April 19, of that year, when Bishop Cheshire confirmed several parishioners. On the following Sunday, the other churches in town suspended their own services so their congregants could worship with St. Timothy's.
St. Timothy's celebrated its centennial year in 1955-56 and launched a significant building program. This activity reflected sizable increases in church membership and energetic leadership. The commemoration service, on May 20, 1956 (Pentecost), was attended by four hundred people, including two former rectors.

Growth continued in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Firestone and Merck opened large facilities in Wilson in this period, bringing many newcomers to town. Outreach ministry included creation of the Community Soup Kitchen and Hope Station.
Two rectors, the Reverend Downs Spitler and the Reverend Philip Byrum, also served St. Mark's Episcopal Church. In 1996, with the help of the Reverend Philip Byrum and several members of the parish, St. Timothy's initiated a Spanish-speaking mission. This Hispanic ministry was very well received. In February, 2000, the Hispanic congregation became a mission, renamed La Iglesia de la Guadalupana, in the Diocese of North Carolina; on Easter Sunday of that year it moved to St. Mark's Church, and in 2005 it broke ground for a new building.
St. Timothy's celebrated its sesquicentennial year in 2006. Our challenge now is growth. We are blessed with strong leadership, clergy and lay. With God's help we will continue to grow as a community committed to living His word. At this juncture in our history, we commemorate the past, celebrate the present, and contemplate the future. Thanks be to God!