From the Church website:
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"Central Presbyterian Church of Russellville, Arkansas, was organized January 29, 1871 as a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation by Reverend Collins J. Bradley, Sr. Charter members were: John L. Torrence, Thomas H. Hamilton, George W. Walker, Thomas J. Russell, Alva Russell, Eliza Walker, Susan M. Russell, Mary Ann Russell, Ann Russell, Mary Pruitt, Martha A. Hamilton, Mary F. Hamilton, and Malissa D. Hamilton. Mary A. Russell donated the site for the first building at what is now 600 West Main Street.
December 30, 1872 minutes of the session show that a building committee was appointed to "raise funds and superintend the construction of a house of worship." The next reference to the building is in the minutes of the session for August 11, 1874 which says "The Session met in the church house."
The first reference to number in the minutes of the Session is for the meeting of December 17, 1885, at which time church membership was 100.
In 1899 the present site of Central Presbyterian Church was acquired and a brick building was erected there. The first services were held in the late July of 1900. Church membership at that time was 114.
May 24, 1906 the General Assembly, meeting at Decatur, Illinois, declared a union and reunion with the Presbyterian Church USA. October 2, 1906 the session adopted a resolution to abide by the ruling of the highest church court. Some members and some churches did not agree to this action and remained Cumberland. October 1, 1907, 18 non-unionists names were dropped from the church roll.
January 1, 1908 fire starting in the Central or Buck Hotel spread to the Central Presbyterian Church which had been erected during the pastorate of Rev. J. H. Curry at a cost of about $10,000. The church building which was destroyed, was covered by $4,000 insurance with $1,000 on fixtures. Many of the fixtures were saved although the organ was damaged by rough handling. The session met immediately and appointed a building committee and a soliciting committee to rebuild on the same site and virtually the same plan. Services were held in the Opera House at first. April 16, 1908 Washburn Memorial Presbyterian Church, a U.S. Church (Southern Church) which was without a minister invited Central Church to hold its services at Washburn Church. This invitation was accepted and apparently the arrangement lasted until the church was rebuilt. The Courier Democrat for December 24, 1908 announced that Christmas Eve services would be held in the new building and the December 28 meeting of the session was held there. This meeting of the session authorized the Nominating Committee to put the names of all members on committees. There were 116 names on this list. Rev. M. G. Millagan, Jr. was pastor while all this took place.
The Courier Democrat for October 12, 1911 announced that the Washburn Presbytery (U.S.) and the Fort Smith Presbytery (U.S.A.), which had the same boundaries, had decided that in many towns which had both churches, the churches would unite and belong to the presbytery of the stronger church. At that time Church had 190 members and Washburn Presbyterian Church had 54 members. Washburn Church, which had no pastor, held a congregational meeting and voted to join the Fort Smith Presbytery with one dissenting vote. Presbytery action was taken in the third week in October. In a follow-up article, October 19, 1911, the Courier Democrat said that the two churches will meet as one next Sunday with the Washburn property to be disposed of and the money used to build a manse for the combined churches. The same article announced that next Tuesday a reception would be held to welcome "the brethren of the other church." T. B. Hartman was pastor of Central Presbyterian Church at this time.
Late in 1924, it was decided to build an addition to the church. At this time, the membership of Central Church was 373 and William R. Hodgson was pastor. The first service was held in the new church auditorium November 29, 1925. The sanctuary completed at that time, with some alterations and enlargements was as it is today.
September 26, 1929, the Methodist Episcopal Church, commonly called the North Methodists, voted to disband. Since Central Presbyterian Church was without a pastor, Judge J. T. Bullock, as moderator protem, appeared before the Methodist Church meeting and invited them to Central Church. Many of them accepted this invitation. On October 24, Rev. C. F. Green, former pastor of the Methodist Episcopal in Russellville was admitted to the Presbytery of Fort Smith at a special meeting held in Clarksville. Reverend Green, according to the Courier Democrat, was appointed by the board of elders to serve as a supply pastor for Central Presbyterian Church. As of December the church had 421 members.
March 22, 1952 a fire caused extensive water and smoke damage to the church school section. That night the session met to begin plans for repairing the damage. Since a great deal of repair was needed, fairly extensive repair work was done to the church school area. This accrued during the pastorate of David P. Thompson.
Early in December of 1962, the session purchased the building north of the church. This was immediately put to use by the high school and junior high school classes of the church school. Rev. James E. Westbrook had become pastor in 1962 and church membership was 360.
Since the church still needed classroom space, alterations and additions were planned. March 20, 1966 dedication services were held for the facilities that had been altered or added during the preceding year. These changes included, lengthening the main sanctuary and putting pews in the addition and in the balcony; changing the old pastor's study into a library and adding an office, study and increasing the size of the choir room; complete remodeling of the educational building for better classroom service; the addition of a new children's department to the north side of the building, covering the walk to the annex and air-conditioning the main building. In 1970, the annex was air-conditioned. January 1, 1966, the church had 453 members.
After this remodeling was planned, the northwest part of the block on which the church is located was offered for sale. Looking to future needs Central Church purchased this property which was occupied by five rent houses. Gradually, these houses have been removed and the lot blacktopped for parking.
Since 1971 was the Centennial year of Central Presbyterian Church, special services were held. These included the church service of June 6, 1971 with the Rev. James E. Westbrook preaching, an evening vesper service, a special hymn service, with a potluck dinner on Wednesday, June 9, and on Sunday morning, June 13, a worship service with Dr. Hugh Nelson, Synod Executive of the Synod of Arkansas/Oklahoma, bringing the message, followed by an open house at two o'clock. Centennial year membership was 471.
In July, 1981, Rev. James E. Westbrook retired after nearly 20 years of service, and the church was led by the Associate Pastor, Rev. Debra Shevlin, while a search was made for a new senior pastor. This search was culminated by the issue of a call to W. Richard Neelly who became the pastor in August of 1982, church membership, January 1, 1981 was 519.
On June 10, 1983 the General Assembly in Atlanta, Georgia voted to unite United Presbyterian Church of the United States of America with the Presbyterian Church of the United States to form the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America.
Later that month, June 19, Rev. L. Howell Martin was ordained and installed as the associate pastor of Central Presbyterian Church. On May 19, 1985 the congregation voted to buy the southwest corner of the block, occupied by the church, for future expansion. As a result of the deteriorating condition of our organ and to improve the music for worship services the congregation contracted to buy a new pipe organ on the 16th of February, 1986.
Upon receiving a call to a church in Texas, Howell Martin left in June, 1988 and The Reverend Rachel McCullough Matthews was called as associate pastor and ordained on June 18, 1989. Rachel resigned as associate pastor September 30, 1991. Cynthia Maunder was called by the Session of Central Presbyterian Church to serve as Director of Christian Education on June 21, 1992."
From the National Register application:
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"The lone example of ecclesiastical architecture in the Russellville Downtown Historic District is the Gothic Revival influenced design of the Central Presbyterian Church IPP0085) located at 400 West Main Street. The east end of the church was constructed in 1908; in 1925 a sanctuary was added to the west end of the building and the original building was remodeled to its present appearance."