GenevaPotomac.org
Title
Geneva Presbyterian Church
Description
In 1958 Washington City Presbytery, now National Capital Presbytery, purchased six-and-one-half acres of farm and orchard land, including a small house, in pastoral Rockville, along then-unpaved Seven Locks Road. After a door-to-door survey of the neighborhood by seminarians, Presbytery decided that there was sufficient reason to establish a new Presbyterian church in the area. That church is Geneva. Using the land on Seven Locks, with the existing house temporarily pressed into service as the "church" building, the first service was held on September 7, 1963 in the "recreation room." The service was conducted by the Rev. William A. Gibson, Geneva's first pastor, who had moved to the area with his family from Pennsylvania. Seven adults and nine children attended that service, including Bill and Betty Gibson. After a busy winter, however, 73 persons had joined in worship and were listed as charter members in May of 1964, when the church was formally organized.
Within a year Geneva began holding services and dinners in neighboring schools, having outgrown the little house. A new sanctuary was added in the form of a white country "chapel" attached to the original house, but within another year growth necessitated further expansion.
Fund-raising began and plans were made for a greatly expanded building, built around the existing structures, including a 250-seat sanctuary. That configuration was completed by May 17, 1970. In 1991, Geneva's congregation voted to enlarge the church building again, to accommodate the need for more and better arranged space for its music program and for Geneva Day School to have quarters for increased enrollment. The Day School space is shared with the church school and social groups in the church. Since the early nineties the building has not changed again structurally.
