11th Avenue United Methodist Church

The 11th Avenue United Methodist Church, located on the northeast corner of 12th Street and 11th Avenue South is one of three churches built in the same neighborhood of Southside in the early 20th century. Along with 2nd Presbyterian Church and St Andrew's Episcopal Church, the three served the growing southwest area of Birmingham as the city's population was spreading out from the old downtown.

Like many United Methodist Churches, 11th Avenue UMC was built of heavy stone, "for the ages". The congregation, however, dwindled to the point that, in the 1990s the church closed its doors and sold the building to HealthSouth. The church was boarded up and remained vacant.

UAB acquired the property when it purchased HealthSouth's southside hospital in April 2006. In December, 2006 UAB officials made plans to re-roof the deteriorating structure to help preserve its condition for possible future re-use. In 2008 the roof was found to still be caving in and the university had made no decision about future use of the property.

References

• Coman, Victoria L. (December 22, 2006) "Forlorn Southside church gets assist". Birmingham News
• DeButts, Jimmy (June 27, 2008) "UAB completes city property deal with HealthSouth." Birmingham Business Journal