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Indiana church celebrates 150 years

PRINCETON, Ind. (AP) – A southwestern Indiana church that’s marking its 150th year is celebrating the milestone with a feast.

Sunday’s catered meal at the Olive Branch Missionary Baptist Church in Princeton will be followed by cake and a special service.

Deacon Andrew Paris tells the Princeton Daily Clarion the church founded in 1866 is considered the first African American Baptist church in the city about 25 miles north of Evansville.

He says the church’s first congregation worshipped in a shed until the current church building was built in 1871.

The congregation once had 180 members, but now numbers about 30 people, including 85-year-old Gloria Portee.

Portee says the church is filled with memories, but she wishes more people “would just walk in” to worship and join the small congregation.