Bethlehem Presbyterian Church

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018. 5 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1954.

From the record

One of 64 National Register listings published here for Alachua County · listed in 2018 · category: Building.

Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 16979 SW 137 Ave., Archer, 32618
When was it listed? February 2018
Category. building
Census division. Newberry-Archer
National Register reference number. 100002065 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

Fires near this property

256 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 256 fires within 5 miles of Bethlehem Presbyterian Church between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,672 acres in total. 27 started naturally. 10 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Railroad operations and maintenance	72
Debris and open burning	65
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	29
Natural	27
Equipment and vehicle use	23
Misuse of fire by a minor	13
Arson/incendiarism	10
Power generation/transmission/distribution	7
Recreation and ceremony	4
Smoking	4
Other causes	1
Fireworks	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2018	Natural	1.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	2018-08-0288(01)
9 September 2008	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	930
8 September 2008	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	not named
9 August 2006	Natural	3.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	ALACHUA/TWO TREE FIRE
6 August 1993	Debris and open burning	5.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	not named
31 August 1997	Natural	20 acres	Florida Forest Service	not named
26 August 1993	Natural	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	not named
13 August 2011	Natural	10 acres	Florida Forest Service	OSTEEN SAND PIT (1)

Every fire recorded in Alachua County

Specimens collected near this property

12 of 1,049 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,049 specimens collected within 10 miles of Bethlehem Presbyterian Church between 1860 and 1975: 700 Animalia, 158 Plantae, 143 Fungi, 46 Protozoa, 2 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A Chable & W McLane, A. Koebele, A. L. Quaintance and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Piezobria Forster, 1869	1882	[Not Stated]	Archer
Satronia tantilla Heinrich, 1926	1882	[Not Stated]	Archer
Xylonomus Gravenhorst, 1829	1882	[Not Stated]	Archer
Myotis austroriparius (Rhoads, 1897)	1860	unknown	Gainesville, 10 mi. W
Agrotis malefida Guenée, 1852	1882	Lugger, O.	Archer
Aulonothroscus schwarzi Blanchard, 1917	1882	M. Hubbard & Schwarz	Archer
Elophila Hübner, 1822	1882	A. Koebele	Archer
Hylephila phyleus (Drury, 1773)	1882	not recorded	Archer
Sigela penumbrata Hulst, 1896	1882	Koebele	Archer
Xylophanes tersa Linnaeus, 1771	1882	not recorded	Archer
Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766)	1885	M. Martin	FLORIDA: Alachua County; Archer
Butorides virescens (Linnaeus, 1758)	1885	M. Martin	FLORIDA: Alachua County; Archer

All 1,049 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this property

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Bethlehem Presbyterian Church: 4 unknowns, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
D & M Johnston - Johnston Landfill Mine	Sand	Unknown
Freebee Landholding, Ltd. - Freebee Levy County Mine	Sand	Unknown
O'Steen Bro.	Sand	Producer
Osteen Brothers - Osteen Pit	Sand	Producer
V. E. Whitehurst & Sons, Inc. - Archer Mine	Sand	Unknown
Watson Construction, Inc. - Archer Mine	Sand	Unknown

Every working recorded in Alachua County

Storms near this property

23 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Archer, the town this property stands in, in 23 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 14 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 2 lightning, 2 funnel cloud. The reports record 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
April 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	2 hurt	Fire Rescue reported a tree on a car with 2 injuries on U.S. Highway 41.
January 2011	Lightning	Archer	$200,000	Lightning struck a home on SW 282nd Street and started a fire which destroyed the home. The cost of property loss was estimated based on an average of home prices in the area.
August 2000	Lightning	Archer	$100,000	Fire destroyed home.
October 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds damaged a water pumping station near Archer.
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	$3,500	Large trees and power lines were blown down.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	$2,000	Several trees and power lines were blown down. A tree fell through the roof of a home and trapped someone inside, but there were no injuries. The time of the event was based on radar. The price of damage was estimated. A Significant Weather Alert was in effect for this storm which mentioned winds of 45 to 55 mph and possible minor damage.
February 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	$2,000	no account filed
April 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	$1,500	Large limbs blocked roads.
August 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	$1,000	Trees were blown down and blocked U.S. Highway 27 near Archer. The time of damage was based on radar data. The cost of damage was unknown, but it was estimated for the inclusion of the event in Storm Data.
September 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	$1,000	Power lines were blown down at 17500 SW Archer Road. The cost of damage was estimated for the event to be included in Storm Data.
June 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	$700	Large trees were blown down.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	$500	Large trees were blown down.
January 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	-	A tree was blown down.
April 2023	Hail	Archer	-	Golf ball size hail was reported along Highway 41 near the Alachua-Levy county-line.
March 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	-	Multiple trees were blown down in Archer and along Highway 441 between Archer and Newberry.
July 2018	Funnel Cloud	Archer	-	A rotating wall cloud and funnel cloud were reported near Archer.
April 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	-	Trees were blown down along State Road 41 near Archer.
April 2006	Hail	Archer	-	no account filed
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Archer	-	no account filed
August 2006	Funnel Cloud	Archer	-	no account filed
February 1998	Hail	Archer	-	no account filed
April 1997	Hail	Archer	-	no account filed
April 1997	Hail	Archer	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Alachua County

Maps showing this location

5 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1954 USGS Gainesville quadrangle1:250000 - 3 printings
1958 USGS Gainesville quadrangle1:250000
1959 USGS Gainesville quadrangle1:250000
1968 USGS Archer quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
1981 USGS Gainesville quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings

Listed places nearby

1 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph	Property	Distance	Listed
	Kanapaha	7.0 miles	1986

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 100002065 in Record Group 79.
Alachua County	All 64 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.