(Located on the north side of the western end of Bridge Street.)
The basement portion of the church budding was constructed in 1845, with a second story added in 1876. It was established as a result of a controversy in the Beaver Presbyterian Church. At that time, the Beaver Church stood on the public park, directly across Corporation Street from the present Beaver Post Office.
When the Rev. A. B. Quay, father of the late United States Senator, Matthew Stanley Quay, resigned his pastorate of the Beaver Church in 1842, a controversy arose as to who would be his successor in the vacant pulpit. A majority of the congregation favored the Rev. Isaac M. Cook, but a minority were equally partisan to the Rev. John Lowery. On account of the minority opposition, the Presbytery declined to put the call into Rev. Cook's hands.
The controversy continued its course until December of 1844. In that year Rev. Cook sent a letter to David Boies, a collector of tolls on the old canal, and a partisan of Rev. Cook's, outlining the steps to be taken to organize a new congregation in Bridgewater, and included in the letter a copy of the Petition thatwas to be presented to Presbytery. This letter is still in existence and is the property of a descendant of David Boies.
On January 29, 1845, some sixty-five members and four Ruling Elders withdrew from the Beaver Church and became Charter Members of the newly organized Bridgewater Presbyterian Church. Rev. Cook became Stated-Supply of the new congregation. The original building was erected that same year.
In December, 1845 Rev. Isaac M. Cook was installed as Pastor. The sermon at the installation of Rev. Cook was delivered by a noted Anti-Slavery leader, the Rev. A. B. Bradford, then Pastor of the Darlington Presbyterian Church. His farm home, called "Buttonwood", located along the Darlington-Enon Valley Road, was one of the stations of the "Underground Railroad", a method used in those days for getting escaped slaves to freedom in Canada.
Slaves would make their way to New Brighton, where the Quakers of the town would feed and conceal them. Then they would be taken to Rev. A. B. Bradford's farm. From first to last, about fifty slaves were sheltered by Rev. Bradford. By night his son and hired hand would lake them in a covered wagon to Salem, Ohio, particularly to the home of Jacob Heaton. Thence, by easy stages, they would be transported from point to point until the Canadian Border was reached.