Oakwood Presbyterian Church 

313 10th Street   Troy, New York

Closed November 21, 2010 now re-purposed as the Oakwood Community Center

The original Oakwood Avenue Presbyterian Church was dedicated on July 1, 1868 and its first members were Troy’s most industrious, among them George Ross, the founder of Ross Valve and John Sherry, a wholesale grocer who donated Beman Park to the city of Troy.

The later Oakwood Presbyterian Church was the result of the November 1963 merger of the Oakwood Avenue Presbyterian Church (white) and the Liberty Street Presbyterian Church (black). The merger completed, Oakwood pronounced itself “one of the few churches in the nation to act on the belief that character, not color, is the standard of Christian fellowship.”

The Liberty Street Presbyterian Church, Troy’s historic black church, was formed as a church at the corner of Liberty and Franklin streets in Troy in 1840. The Liberty Street church  hosted underground railroad committees and was very active in the struggle to end institutionalized slavery in the United States. The church at this site burned down in 1941 and the congregation moved to the State Street Methodist Church which was demolished in 1963 for urban renewal.

 

The following Memorial Names that were found in Oakwood Presbyterian were transcribed by TIGS volunteer Rebecca Rector.

wdt_ID Name Memorial Location Inscription
1 Anderson, Ellen Name Plate On Brit R. Sheffield Plaque Back Wall Ellen Anderson - 1986
2 Anker, Mina Two Brass Vases On Table In Front of Church In Memory of Sibilla and William Anker - By Their Daughter Mina
3 Anker, Sibilla Two Brass Vases On Table In Front of Church In Memory of Sibilla and William Anker - By Their Daughter Mina
4 Anker, William Two Brass Vases On Table In Front of Church In Memory of Sibilla and William Anker - By Their Daughter Mina
5 Armitage, Florence B. Name Plate On Helen Bullock Plaque Back Wall Florence B. Armitage - 1994
6 Armitage, Florence B. Plaque Left Wall Presented to Oakwood Church in Loving Memory of Florence B. Armitage - By the Deacons and Women's Guild
7 Armitage, Lloyd F. Name Plate On Brit R. Sheffield Plaque Back Wall Lloyd F. Armitage - 1986
8 Baxter, Theodore Name Plate On Helen Bullock Plaque Back Wall Theodore Baxter - 1993
9 Bielass, Harold Name Plate On Helen Bullock Plaque Back Wall Harold Bielass - 1989
10 Bigelman, Cora H. Name Plate On Helen Bullock Plaque Back Wall Cora H. Bigelman - 1990