Trinity Presbyterian Church (Eastwood)

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This article is about the former church on Montevallo Road, for others with similar names, see Trinity Presbyterian Church
Woodlawn Presbyterian Church in 1966
Trinity Presbyterian Church

Trinity Presbyterian Church (formerly Woodlawn Presbyterian Church) was a Presbyterian church founded in 1888 at the home of founding pastor James Fulton at 6021 2nd Avenue South. Fulton was assisted by his brother-in-law, James Hedleston. The congregation was incorporated on July 28 of that year and recognized by the North Alabama Presbytery on September 17.

Soon the growing congregation moved its services to the newly-completed Woodlawn Baptist Church, while continuing to use Fulton's home for Sunday School classes. In the early 1890s the congregation built a church building on land donated by William Fulton at 7 60th Street South. A Sunday School room was added in 1904. In 1905 the church acquired property for a new building at 5624 1st Avenue North. The former church building was sold to the Woodlawn Church of Christ. The new building was completed in 1913.

On May 25, 1913 the 36 members of First Avenue Presbyterian Church were merged into Woodlawn Presbyterian. In 1921 pastor Roy Hershey was appointed chaplain to the Alabama Boys Industrial School and Woodlawn Presbyterian conducted the regular services there through the end of his pastorate in 1926.

A three-story educational building was added on the east side of the church in 1949, extending the campus to the corner of 57th Street North. Huffman Presbyterian Church was formed in 1956 by several former members. In 1956 the church purchased property for a manse at 5329 9th Avenue South behind Crestwood Park, and added a neighboring lot a year later for future expansion.

In the 1960s, the congregation's long-range planning committee put forward a proposal to rebuild the entire church plant in several stages, beginning with the 1913 sanctuary. Turner & Batson was commissioned to design a new $200,000 sanctuary at ground level to be more accessible to older members, with a planned completion in 1967. At the same time assistant pastor Douglas Slagel was hired to expand the church's youth program with outreach to the adjoining Woodlawn High School, as well as a nursery and kindergarten for low-income families in the neighborhood.

The church moved to a 3.1-acre lot at 4565 Montevallo Road near Eastwood Mall in 1971. Architect Edgar Batson designed the church's modern-style brick building with a folded-plate roof. In its resolution approving the move, the Presbytery explained that the church's surroundings had, "changed in recent years from a neighborhood composed mostly of private homes and stable families to one dominated by commercial activity and rental facilities for more transient people with little interest in the immediate area," and referred to the, "breaking up of the old Woodlawn neighborhood," thanks to new shopping centers and interstates.

A second planned move, to Greystone, caused division in the congregation, and was not carried out.

By 2013 the church's membership had dwindled to 33. Trinity closed in June 2014 and its property reverted to the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley. Its last pastor was Rick Jones. The presbytery sold the property in 2019.

Pastors

References

  • Brown, Annie Maude "Brief History of the Woodlawn Presbyterian Church"
  • Woodlawn Presbyterian Church: 75th Anniversary Celebration, 1883-1963 (1963) Woodlawn Presbyterian Church, via Birmingham Public Library
  • Chamblee, Leonard (August 13, 1966) "Woodlawn Presbyterian To Replace All Facilities" Birmingham Post-Herald
  • Chamblee, Leonard (March 25, 1969) "Church Announces Plans To Move" Birmingham Post-Herald
  • Garrison, Greg (June 9, 2014) "'The youth group was in its 60s and 70s': Montevallo Road church founded in Woodlawn in 1888 closes." The Birmingham News