On Sunday morning, July 15, 1968, the Mount Hebrew Presbyterian Church in Bristow was bombed with dynamite. No one in the predominantly Black congregation was present at the time, but the back of the building was ripped apart, wrecking the auditorium.

Local Black leaders were concerned as there had been racially motivated bombings in other counties that year, four of them churches. Several neighbors heard the explosion but thought it was from construction on Interstate 65. Authorities suspected outside agitators, pointing to sightings of a car seen in the area with Jefferson County plates, but no suspects were apprehended.

– “Way Back When in Warren County” is compiled by researchers at the Warren County Public Library and appears twice weekly in the Bowling Green Daily News. For more information about the library, visit warrenpl.org.