A Brief History of Hammond, Louisiana
Hammond Church Organized in 1907
In 1889, Elder Benjamin Franklin Purdham, a minister from Indiana, visited an elderly couple in Hammond. They had moved from Iowa, and had been Sabbath keepers since 1856, after hearing Elder Joseph Bates speak (Purdham, 1889). In 1901, a church of fifteen members was organized at nearby Natalbany. These were probably included (Beeler, 1996) when the Hammond Church was organized on November 2, 1907, with ten members and others expected to unite with them soon (Maxwell, 1907).
Hammond Church Reorganized in 1935
Apparently the little church disbanded along the way, but in 1934, Elder I. C. Pound held meetings in Hammond, and in 1935, Elder Harold Nathan Williams held another series of meetings. This resulted in Elder H. C. Hartwell organizing a church of 21 members at Hammond on July 28, 1935 (Hartwell, 1935).
A New Church in 1950
In 1950, a new Hammond church was nearing completion. While much work still remained to be done on the inside of the building, the exterior was enclosed and a church school room was completed. The church school was in operation that winter, and they hoped this would be the beginning of many years of a church school in this are (Record, 1950). The new church was dedicated on May 24, 1952 (Glass, 1952).
A New Church and School
In 1992, it was voted to sell the Hammond church building. The purchasing group, Oak Grove Memorial Church of Christ, allowed the members to continue using the building twice a week without charge for one year from the time of sale (Minutes, 1992). Approximately 100 church members, friends and neighbors were present for the ground-breaking services held on Sunday, April 17, 1994, for the new church building and school. The 6,084 square-foot building soon provided a comfortable and very representative place in which to worship and where children could attend church school (McCormick, 1994).
Citations
(1950, Oct. 11). Southwestern Union Record, p. 4.
(1992, Apr. 29). Executive Committee Minutes. Shreveport, LA: Arkansas-Louisiana Conference of SDA.
Ancestry Family Trees. (2015, Jul. 12). Benjamin Franklin Purdham. Retrieved from www.ancestry.com.
B., Elizabeth. (2017, Mar. 3). Hammond Seventh-day Adventist Church. Retrieved from yellowpages.com.
Beeler, Charles R. (1996). A History of Seventh-day Adventists in Arkansas and Louisiana 1888-1996. Keene: Arkansas-Louisiana Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, pp. 90, 117.
Glass, Hallie G. (1952, Jul. 9). Southwestern Union Record, p. 5.
Hartwell, H. C. (1935, Aug. 7). Ibid., p. 3.
Maxwell, E. L. (1907, Nov. 19). Southern Union Worker, p. 85.
McCormick, Virginia. (1994, Jul. 1). Southwestern Union Record, p. 6.
Purdham, B. F. (1889, Feb. 5). Review and Herald, p. 91.
How it all Began 