The following is a record of the known history of the church of Christ in Lyon County, as compiled and arranged by Odell Walker, Lyon County Historian and retired elder of the Eddyville church of Christ. It highlights the beginnings of the church in the county, as well as the efforts made to firmly establish the congregation until the eventual building of the current meeting house, first used in September of 1961.
About the year 1906, two families moved from Jackson County, TN, bought farms and settled in the Bend of the Rivers section of Lyon County. These were the Joseph L. Robertson and D.P. Tays families. Robertson and Tays had married sisters.
They were active members of the Church of Christ at their old home in Tennessee. When they arrived in Lyon County there was no established congregation of the Church of Christ in the county. They began to meet and hold services at the Chestnut Oak schoolhouse. Wiley Mathis came from the Calvert City area of Marshall County and preached for this group at the schoolhouse. It is not known if he came every Sunday or once a month. However, the group met every Sunday for Sunday School.
In 1908 a Brother Barnette came and held a gospel meeting at the Chestnut Oak schoolhouse. Other persons in the area attended and some were converted. Later another family, the J.B. Brummitts moved to the Bend of the Rivers area and were active in the work of the Church.
Later the meeting place was moved from the Chestnut Oak schoolhouse to the McPhail schoolhouse. By the 1920's it appears this group had become inactive, except for an occasional meeting.
In 1924 Marvin and Grace McGee moved to Eddyville where Mr. McGee had obtained a job as bookkeeper for the collar factory located in the penitentiary. They were from Marshall County and devout members of the Church of Christ. Through the efforts of Brother McGee, Brother Garvin Curd came and held a meeting at the Courthouse. This meeting brought together some inactive members scattered throughout the county. Meetings were held in homes until about 1928.
In 1928 Homer Ford was selected as Principal of Kuttawa School and a Mr. Sisson was selected as Principal of the Eddyville School. Both of these gentlemen were active members of the Church of Christ. About this same time Mr. and Mrs. James R. Glass and their daughter, Lucy, former residents of Kuttawa moved back home and Lucy had a job teaching in the Kuttawa Grade School.
At this time these people began meeting every Sunday in the home of Homer Ford. The school board objected to this arrangement. Brother Glass obtained permission for use of the Presbyterian Church on Sunday afternoons. Permission to meet at the Presbyterian Church was soon revoked. The group met for a short time at the home of Brother Glass in Kuttawa, but was soon moved back to the home of Brother McGee in Eddyville.
In 1935 a Brother Bailey was Chaplain at the penitentiary and preached for the church at the courthouse. In 1936 a Brother Wade held a meeting at the McPhail schoolhouse. Brother J.P. Sanders from Nashville came and held a meeting at Kuttawa Springs in the summer of 1937 through the efforts of Lucy Glass, who had taken a job as a teacher in the elementary school at David Lipscomb College. Brother Sanders held another meeting in 1938. Following this meeting a Brother Keiffer, a teacher at David Lipscomb College, started coming to Eddyville and preaching at the Courthouse in Eddyville once each month. This arrangement continued until about 1940 when contact was made with the Elders of the Hillsboro Church of Christ in Nashville, TN. Some of them came down one Sunday and met in the afternoon with the men of the church in the front yard of Brother James R. Glass. The Hillsboro Church agreed to provide financial help provided a better meeting place could be found other than the Courthouse.
The lower level floor of the Masonic Hall in Eddyville was secured as a meeting place. Elvin Defew and Percy Walker cleaned and painted the room and folding chairs were secured for seating. Brother Charles Lancaster was the first full time preacher. About that same time, Brother Frank Gould held a tent meeting at Kuttawa. The meeting was well attended and it appeared that the interest in the church was greater in Kuttawa than it was in Eddyville.
About this time Kentucky Dam and Lake were under construction. All property in the lake basin was purchased by the Corps of Engineers. Birmingham was a small town on the bank of the Tennessee River in Marshall County. The Church of Christ met there in a nice frame building. Because of the impounding of the lake, the people of Birmingham scattered throughout the area and the church disbanded.
The church building at Birmingham was given to the church in Lyon County. A lot was purchased in Kuttawa and the church building at Birmingham was torn down plank by plank. The nails were removed and the lumber was hauled to Kuttawa where a new building was constructed.
The monies left in the treasury by the Birmingham congregation after they disbanded was given to the church at Kuttawa to be used for the rebuilding at Kuttawa.
The church at Kuttawa met continuously at this building until impoundment of Barkley Lake. When the dam was built it appeared that the part of Kuttawa that was not destroyed would be in semi-isolation. It appeared that it was in the best interest of the church to move to New Eddyville. A new church building was constructed on a lot given to the church by Mr. Lee S. Jones.
The first service was held in this new building in September 1961 and the Church of Christ has met there continuously to the present.
In 1968 a new house was built and serves as residence for the minister.
In 1989 a multi-purpose annex was added to the back of the church building at a cost of $100,000.
Those who have served the church as ministers over the years in order of their service are: G.W. Keiffer, Charles Lancaster, Charles Tidwell, Paul Hughey, Charles Crosier, Paul Hughey, Robert Woehler, John Faught, Charles Shelton, Eldon Rogers, Larry Harris, Jack London, Carl Bates, James Thomason, Talmadge Jones, Harry Hasty, Wayne Polk, Bill McCormick, Dustin Wilder and Tim Alsup.