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HISTORY OF THE CHC PUBLISHING HOUSE
By Oliver Hardegree
The Publishing House of The Congregational Holiness Church began
operation in Atlanta, Georgia, at or near Rev. Watson Sorrow's Calvary
Temple Congregational Holiness Church, 1061 Memorial Drive, SE. The
exact beginning date is unknown, but it was in the early 1940's. Rev.
Sorrow was the first manager, and he and his son John operated the
Publishing House until November, 1946.
Rev. Sorrow was also the editor of The Gospel Messenger from its
beginning until November, 1946. The first issue of The Gospel Messenger
was January, 1924. It consisted of four pages, with a subscription price
of fifty cents per year. The copy that was sent to the printer of the
early Gospel Messengers was typed by Rev. Sorrow on a borrowed
typewriter. At first he used one finger, but finally reached the point
of using two, and he continued using two fingers as long as he was
editor. Rev. Sorrow actually owned The Gospel Messenger until 1927, when
he gave it to The Congregational Holiness Church.
In November, 1946, Rev. B. L. Woodruff became manager of the Publishing
House, and Rev. B. L. Cox became editor of The Gospel Messenger. Rev.
Woodruff's wife, Evangeline, was the bookkeeper and office manager. At
this time, the decision was made to move the Publishing House to
Carrollton, Georgia.
On March 8, 1947, land was purchased for the purpose of building a new
home for the Publishing House. The property was on Tanner Street in
downtown Carrollton and part of what was known as the "wagon yard". The
deed was made to Revs. Walton Brack, T. B. Hoard, W. S. Crews, and L. L.
Williams, general trustees of The Congregational Holiness Church. This
property was located next to a thriving business known as Carrollton
Tire and Radiator Company which was owned by Rev. Woodruff.
Rev. Woodruff participated in the building to the extent that he caught
the attention of one of the local newspapers THE CARROLL FREE PRESS. They ran a picture of Rev. Woodruff driving his World War II surplus
Army Jeep and pulling a hand-guided scoop which was grading for the
building. The person guiding the scoop was unidentified.
The building was two stories. The printing equipment was located on the
first floor, and the office and shipping were on the top floor. Part of
the top floor was leased to the Georgia Department of Transportation for
their district office.
Oliver Hardegree &
Rev. B. L. Woodruff
The printing process began in the new building in mid-1947.
Rudolph Ralston (son of Rev. Homer Ralston) moved to Carrollton to
supervise printing operations. A local resident of Carrollton (a Mr.
Cooley) operated the Linotype machine. Rudolph did the proofreading and
typesetting, and operated the printing, folding, and cutting machines. Some of these machines were very primitive in comparison to today's
equipment. For example, the printer on which the covers for the Sunday
School quarterlies were printed had to be hand-fed one cover at a time. Another example was the cutting machine which was hand-operated and
required super elbow strength. The folding, collating, and stapling of
the quarterlies were done by hand and mostly with part-time employees. One of the part-time employees was Oliver Hardegree. The circulation of
The Gospel Messenger and the shipping of the Sunday School literature
were handled by Mrs. B. L. Woodruff. Also, there was a selection of books
and gospel material which could be purchased from the Publishing House.
Around 1953 it was decided to cease printing operation in Carrollton and
contract with Advocate Press in Franklin Springs, Georgia, to do the
printing. Then the material would be shipped to Carrollton for
distribution. A new Linotype operator was needed because of Mr. Cooley's
age and health, and the equipment was worn and outdated; therefore, it
would be more economically feasible to make this move.
Rev. and Mrs. Woodruff moved to Cleveland, Georgia, about this time to
pastor the Cleveland Congregational Holiness Church and needed someone
to handle the distribution of Sunday School literature and circulation
of the Gospel Messenger. Oliver Hardegree was hired for this position
from September, 1953, to June, 1956, except for a few months when he was
attending an out-of-town college, at which time, Rev. M. L. Anderson
filled in for Mr. Hardegree.
In 1956 the Publishing House was relocated to South Carolina, and
printing was resumed. All the equipment was shipped to South Carolina,
and the building in Carrollton was sold.
Oliver Hardegree served as the Congregational Holiness Church
Publishing House Manager from 1953 until 1956 and authored this
article.
Mr. Hardegree can be reached by sending an email to "oliver at hardegree
dot com".
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