How It All Began
It began in 1891 as a mission Sunday school to serve the sparsely settled area east of the city known as St. Matthews. Over the years, the St. Matthews mission Sunday school was supported by various Presbyterian congregations including Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church and Highland Presbyterian Church. Hugh Lewis Barret is attributed to the mission’s ultimate success, as he was a champion of the mission from early in its existence and went on to become one of the charter members of Harvey Browne Memorial Presbyterian Church.
On April 5, 1914, the St. Matthews mission dedicated a one-room frame structure at 118 Bauer Avenue on a lot that Barret had given. Edmonia Browne Roberts, a wealthy widow from Bardstown, gave $2,000 to erect the building in memory of her brother, Dr. James Harvey Browne. Members of the mission raised an additional $500 for its construction.
On August 13, 1916 the Presbytery of Louisville chartered the St. Matthews mission Sunday school to be Harvey Browne Memorial Presbyterian Church. Of the 27 charter members, 12 were received from other Presbyterian churches in the area – five from Crescent Hill, four from Beulah, two from Highland, and one from Stuart Robinson, while the rest were received from the German Evangelical Church, profession of faith, or baptism.
Who Was Harvey Browne?
While much is known about Hugh Barret, the person who was largely responsible for the chartering of Harvey Browne Memorial Presbyterian Church, very little is known about the church’s namesake, James Harvey Browne.
One of five children of James Marshal Brown and Susan Marie Beauchamp, he was born October 12, 1823 in Bardstown, Kentucky. He graduated from the University of Louisville Medical School in 1856, though it is unclear whether he ever practiced medicine. He never married, had no children, and died of diabetes on September 1, 1908 in Bardstown, Kentucky. He is buried in a family plot in the Bardstown Cemetery. The inscription on his tombstone read, “Blessed are the pure in heart – Mat. 5:8.”
James Harvey Browne’s sister, Edmonia Browne Roberts, gave $2,000 to erect the original building of what would become Harvey Browne Memorial Presbyterian Church. She gave the money in memory of her brother. Edmonia was an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Bardstown. She died on March 23, 1925, the youngest and last surviving Browne family sibling. She is buried in the family plot in the Bardstown Cemetery. There is no indication of her ever having visited the church she helped to build on Bauer Avenue, the one that bore her brother’s name.