The First Christian Church of Florence, AL was first known as Central Christian Church and was organized September 16, 1917 by Reverend J.R. Jolly and Mr. Chester Campbell.  A group of nineteen persons had been meeting on Sunday afternoons since the previous April but had no definite organization as a church.  This group of Christians who met in Florence became affiliated with the unity, restoration movement led by Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell in the early 1800’s; this movement became the “Disciples of Christ” or Christian Church.  In September 1917 Central Christian Church was chartered and began meeting in an old skating rink over the Five and Ten Cent Store on Court Street.  The church purchased and renovated property on the corner of Tuscaloosa and Walnut Streets which became the church home for Central Christian Church from April 1919 until Easter of 1950 when the new church building on Wood Avenue was occupied and renamed as First Christian Church Florence, AL.