Exploring Montgomery

The storytelling continues… a collection of stories and photos from Exploring Montgomery!

church

“I can’t imagine worshipping anywhere else. There is so much history, so much strength built into this church.”- Maria Thomas, Head Secretary of Old Ship A.M.E. Zion Church Old Ship African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is the oldest African-American church in the city of Montgomery. The church’s beginning dates way […]

Old Ship African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

June 22, 2018 in Religious tagged ame / aum media writing / church / old ship / zion

Was constructed in 1947 as the fulfillment of a dream of the small, industrious Greek community which had immigrated to Montgomery over the previous 70 years, struggling to make their way in a strange new land. This effort, delayed by years of depression and war, was finally secured thru the […]

Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation

May 11, 2018 in Religious tagged church / greek / orthodox

The original Whitfield Memorial Methodist Church . . . at 2000 Woodley Road, now a Christian Science Church. It was built in the early 1950s, but less than a decade later Whitfield decided its site was too small and too close to First Methodist, so it relocated out onto Fisk […]

Whitfield Memorial Methodist Church

March 2, 2018 in Religious tagged church / methodist / whitfield

The Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter . . . at 2911 Woodley Road, anchors the Southern tip of the triangular shaped Gay Meadows subdivision, almost touching Southern Boulevard. The church was carefully crafted to resemble its former Carpenter Gothic home in the once elegant Cottage Hills District. The Holy […]

Holy Comforter

February 19, 2018 in Religious tagged church / comforter / episcopal / holy

at 2514 Madison Avenue, on the corner of its intersection with Ann Street. The church was founded in 1934, and this Greek Revival sanctuary was completed in 1937, a remarkable achievement, considering that the Depression was going strong during those years. Carl Cooper (Berney Walters’ uncle) was architect. -Charles Humphries

Capitol Heights Baptist Church

November 3, 2017 in Religious tagged baptist / capitol heights / church

Here you see the St. James United Methodist Church of yore, which faces South Court Street, and is the antecedent of the St. James United Methodist that stands today on Vaughn Road at its Ryan intersection. In the center you see the old St. James Sunday School wing, mother of […]

St. James United Methodist Church

October 27, 2017 in Religious tagged church / methodist / st james

The Aldersgate United Methodist Church (nee Forest Avenue Methodist) at 6610 Vaughn Road. Its first unit there was built in 1975, and its sanctuary (pictured) was erected in 1998. Aldersgate boasts a membership of 1600. Located adjacent to St. James High School. -Charles Humphries

Aldersgate United Methodist Church

October 20, 2017 in Religious tagged aldersgate / church / methodist

located on the SW corner where Calhoun deads into Pelzer Avenue. It was organized in 1949, and by 1955 it had already completed two substantial building projects. Its present Greek Revival sanctuary was dedicated in 1965. All this was accomplished under the leadership of the renowned Reverend Louis Armstrong, who […]

Morningview Baptist Church

October 13, 2017 in Religious tagged baptist / church / morningview

located in the Forest Hills subdivision (takes a map to find it), was a 1950s outreach of Capitol Heights Baptist. Today it is one of the largest churches in our city. Its sanctuary was built in 1965, as one step in a 30 year client relationship forged by my partner, […]

Eastern Hills Baptist Church

October 6, 2017 in Religious tagged baptist / church / eastern hills

at 5780 Vaughn Road, started as a dream in 1991 when Trinity Presbyterian member, Ida Belle Young, donated 40 acres of her meadowland for the purpose of starting a new church. Two years later the church was organized, and its first worship service was held in the Trinity School Cafeteria. […]

Young Meadows Presbyterian Church

September 29, 2017 in Religious tagged church / presbyterian / young meadows

at 1803 Mulberry, was founded in the 1940s, and was thriving when this sanctuary was built in 1956. It was the last job done by WMP, my business partner of neigh 50 years, before he and I left our former employer to start our own practice. At that time, the […]

Forest Park Baptist Church

September 22, 2017 in Religious tagged baptist / church / forest park

located on the NW corner of the 5-Points formed by the Fairview, Cloverdale Rd-Woodley intersection. It was founded ca 1932, and its first building faced Fairview. The church closed its doors some 80 years later, and the structure is slated to become the Cloverdale Playhouse, which will feature amateur theater […]

Cloverdale Christian Church

September 15, 2017 in Religious tagged church / cloverdale

Grace Episcopal Church — The much revered Grace Episcopal Church . . . out on the Pike Road near Mt. Meigs, a mile or two South of I-85. The Church was founded circa 1858. However, while this nice Carpenter Gothic style structure was designed by Pennsylvania architect Joseph Pierson in 1861, soon after the […]

Grace Episcopal Church

March 10, 2017 in Religious tagged church / episcopal / flowers / gardens / gothic / grace

St James Holt Crossing — located where Carter Hill, Vaughn and Zelda all intersect. It has existed at this crossroad since it was organized in 1875. However, the building pictured was built in 1963 as administrative offices of the Alabama Masonic Lodge. The design won an Alabama AIA award for my partner, WMP. In 2004 […]

St. James Holt Crossing Baptist Church

August 8, 2016 in Religious tagged baptist / church / crossing / holt / james

Dexter Avenue King Memorial — …stands near the head of Dexter Avenue, only one block from the State Capitol. Its design is simplified Victorian Gothic, and it was built in 1899 amidst much controversy over the placement of a “Colored Church” on the city’s main street. Today it is widely heralded as Montgomery’s most famous […]

Dexter Avenue King Memorial Church

May 13, 2016 in Religious tagged baptist / church / dexter / king / memorial / victorian gothic

boyleston UMC — on Johnson Avenue stands opposite the many monuments, artillery pieces and historic tablets that were erected in the median to commemorate the one-time Camp Sheridan. I’ve been told that the church, which looks entirely too large for any other existence, served as the chapel for the camp and the Buckeye […]

Boyleston United Methodist Church

April 4, 2016 in Religious tagged boyleston / church / methodist

First Baptist — at 347 North Ripley, was organized in 1866 as an offspring of the First Baptist now located on South Perry Street, at which these founders worshiped as slaves. This church hosted the first baccalaureate service for Alabama State (then State Normal) in 1890. Fire destroyed their building ca 1910, and […]

“Brick a Day” First Baptist Church

March 19, 2016 in Religious tagged baptist / brick a day / church / first

Church of the Ascension — …at the corner of McDonough and Clayton Streets was established in 1909, supposedly for some 50 communicants of St John’s Episcopal that lived in the new suburb south of South Street (now I-85). Many of the transfers were not really effective until Genetta Ditch (Julia Street) flooded and the reluctant […]

Church of the Ascension

March 4, 2016 in Religious tagged ascencion / church / gothic / norman

AME Zion Church — …at 483 Holcombe Street, is home to the oldest African American congregation in our city, and deep within the structure is a part that qualifies as the oldest surviving church building in Montgomery. The church was planted by Court Street Methodist in 1850, and soon thereafter was offered the 1835 wood […]

Old Ship A.M.E. Zion Church

February 22, 2016 in Religious tagged ame / church / historic registry / old ship / zion

Court Street Methodist — …the one that was demolished ca 1931 to make way for the new Post Office. It looks pretty grand to me. My mother-in-law was married in this church in 1925. The congregation moved out to the new suburb called Cloverdale and built the First Methodist Church that we know today. […]

Court Street Methodist Church

February 22, 2016 in Religious tagged church / court / methodist

First Methodist Postcard — …claims to be the oldest organized church in Montgomery. For 100 years it stood on the downtown site now occupied by the Federal Court and our former main Post Office under the name Court Street Methodist. The church moved to this site in the suburb of Cloverdale in 1931, when […]

First United Methodist Church

February 22, 2016 in Religious tagged church / first / methodist

Trinity Presbyterian — …was organized in 1891 as a split-off from First Presbyterian, and named itself Central Presbyterian. In 1913 the church changed its name to Trinity, and relocated from downtown to the outskirts of town, at the corner of Hull and Felder. 35 years later it had become the dominant church in the […]

Trinity Presbyterian Church

February 22, 2016 in Religious tagged church / presbyterian / trinity

First Presbyterian Church — The Church was founded in 1824, the oldest organized church in Montgomery. This structure was dedicated in 1847, the same year that Montgomery became the State Capital. Church member Andrew Dexter gave the land for the Church, as well as “Goat Hill”, the ground on which the Capital Building was […]

First Presbyterian Church

February 22, 2016 in Religious tagged church / first / presbyterian