Fire Destroys $200,000 Second Presbyterian Church

Article taken from The Portsmouth Times, September 27, 1933

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PORTSMOUTH, OH, Sept 27 -(AP)- The second Presbyterian church, here, was practically destroyed by fire early today.

The interior of the beautiful brown edifice was a mass flames before the blaze was discovered shortly after 4 o'clock the fire started in the chapel adjoining the main auditorium from defective wiring and spread to the main part of the structure before it was discovered.

Built in 1910 at a cost of $200,000, the church was the third of same name to be destroyed under mysterious circumstances in the last 40 years.

The first Second Presbyterian church was destroyed by a dynamite explosive in 1896. A nonmember of the congregation who felt he had a grievance against the church blasted the original church. He committed suicide when arrested.

Then several years later the church constructed to replace edifice was destroyed by a fire.

Many valuable windows, donated by members of the congregation, long since dead, were destroyed by today's blaze.

The Rev. Morris P. Stoute is pastor of the church destroyed today. The building was fully covered by insurance.