Hampton Christian Church was organized as a Mission on February 18, 1883. It was largely the outgrowth of the efforts of William A. Tennis, a deacon of the Grafton Christian Church in York County. He immediately began to search for other disciples. Several were located, and an organizational meeting was held in the home of R.B. Tennis with fourteen members present. For the next few months, they met in Grebel Hall on Queen Street with Dr. Phillip P. Duvall as the supply pastor. Then in 1887 they called E. B. Bagby to their full-time minister. On December 11, 1888, they were officially chartered as a church. The first house of worship was a small frame structure located on Chapel Street. When this building was destroyed by a fire in 1900, the congregation immediately began construction of a new brick sanctuary, which was dedicated on “the second Lord’s day of September,” 1901. By 1938, the church had grown to the point where it was necessary to provide additional facilities for the Sunday School. So, an educational building was completed and dedicated on December 11, 1938. In 1968, the congregation decided to relocate in a new area of the city. A 3-acre site was acquired on Mercury Blvd. at the projected intersection with Andrews Blvd. Plans were drawn for a new church structure to be built in three stages. The church building on Chapel Street was sold to the Salvation Army in 1973. From March 1973 to March 1974, the congregation met for Sunday School and morning worship in the Masonic Temple on West Queen Street. The first services were held in the present location on March 31, 1974. A five-room addition was dedicated March 28, 1976. Since its beginning in 1883, twenty-seven ministers have served the church.
You might wonder why our service starts at 10:45. During World War II we had members from the V. A. And Fort Monroe. For them to have their noon meal, they had to catch the streetcar at the end of chapel street at noon.
