A small church that vanished long ago nevertheless had a lasting impact upon education in Mathews County.
Providence Baptist Church was organized in 1901 by 76 persons dismissed in good standing from First Baptist Church, Mathews, established in 1865.
The new church was built on one acre purchased in 1903 from William and Lessie Thompson. Trustees of Providence represented in the sale were Thomas H. White, Thomas B. Ruff, Robert E. Emmett, Thomas H. Gwyn and Lewis E. Brooks, trustees of Providence Church.
The site was adjacent to land later developed in 1924 into the school that became Thomas Hunter High School. The present-day Thomas Hunter Middle School stands on the same site.
According to paperwork in the Mathews Clerk’s Office, Providence Church ceased to exist by 1940; and in 1945, its remaining trustees, L.R. White, Adelie White and Florienda Smith, donated the parcel to the Colored Educational League of Mathews, “to be used for educational purposes in connection to the Thomas H...