Bethany Over the Years
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Bethany’s campus has housed the local food closet since 1970.
At Bethany’s June 27, 2021, worship service, church members Jesse and Jim Carter were honored by the South Sacramento Interfaith Partnership for their many years of support.
Rev. Scott Anderson talked about Bethany and its role in the community as the church celebrated its 75th anniversary.
Bethany was one of several local churches that staged “live” nativity scenes in 1969 at the new Florin Mall in South Sacramento.
Both The Sacramento Bee and Sacramento Union daily newspapers reported favorably on the Way Out House, a “teen drop-in center” held weekly at Bethany during the late ‘60s.
Hundreds lined up to watch “the church on wheels” be transported to its new location on October 3, 1955.
Bethany’s pastor and leaders were highlighted in the December 30, 1950 issue of The Sacramento Union.
Bethany was selected by The Sacramento Union as “Church of the Week” near the end of 1950.
A news article from the September 30, 1944 issue of The Sacramento Bee tells of Bethany’s 30th anniversary celebration. Special recognition during the church’s anniversary worship service honored those in the church who had served, or were currently serving, in World War II.
A beautiful brass cross was donated to the church in the fall of 1941. A newspaper article published December 6 in The Sacramento Union announced that the cross would be dedicated the next morning … which turned out to be the day of the Pearl Harbor attack.
In its June 26, 1937 morning edition, The Sacramento Union profiled Bethany Presbyterian Church. Read the story here.
Bethany presented a display of more than three dozen decorated Christmas trees for the public to view. Read about it in the December 26, 1936 issue of The Sacramento Bee.
Bethany’s first building was dedicated February 17, 1918. It was announced in the local newspaper The Sacramento Star the day prior.
Although its fledgling congregation had been meeting since May 1914, Bethany was officially organized on September 20 … meeting in the Odd Fellows’ Hall located at 34th Street and Magnolia Avenue in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood. In 1913 Sacramento City’s building inspector reported that Oak Park was the fastest growing residential district in the city, and the 1914 City Directory listed almost 800 homes in Oak Park.
