Trinity United Methodist Church (Edgewood)

Trinity United Methodist Church is a large Methodist church located at 1400 Oxmoor Road in the Edgewood neighborhood of Homewood.

Trinity was granted the name and remaining funds of the former Trinity Methodist Church on Birmingham's Southside, which disbanded in March 1926. The new church was organized, holding its first service on October 30 of that year.

The first building constructed on the new site, designed by Warren, Knight and Davis architects and completed for $31,800 in March 1928, served for both worship and Sunday School. The sandstone exterior is ornamented with carved limestone details. The upstairs worship space held 180 congregants.

In 1947 the church purchased a surplus army chapel building which was moved from Camp Sibert near Gadsden to accommodate rapid post-war growth in its membership. The timber-vaulted space seated 400, an accommodation which the growing church soon outgrew.

A new sanctuary, also designed by Warren, Knight and Davis to complement the earlier building, was constructed for $202,000 from 1949 to 1950. The new sanctuary, decorated with light-colored wood panels with low-relief carvings in a modern style surmounted by heavy brackets and beams in the vaulted ceiling. The seating capacity, with pews in the nave and transepts, was 742. Several later additions made use of the transepts while providing for other church functions.

In 1962 Trinity solicited proposals from several architectural firms for further enlargements of the Sunday School building and for a new sanctuary and family life center. Turner & Batson were selected to design the new buildings. The new sanctuary, clad in brick carefully selected to complement the sandstone of the earlier buildings, was completed in March 1978. The architects contrasted the relatively plain brick with detailed carvings around the entrance arch. An arcade connects the large new building to its smaller neighbors. The interior is lit by 49 stained-glass windows commissioned from the Willet Studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The roof beams are made of laminated timber. The left aisle of the two-aisle nave leads to the altar and reredos while the right aisle faces the choir and organ chamber. The pulpit is centered in the nave.

In 2003 another construction project brought new classroom space as well as major renovations to older buildings. In the Fall of 2015 Trinity merged its congregation with the smaller Oakmont United Methodist Church in West Homewood.

Pastors

• R. E. Tyler, 1926-1928
• William A. McKee, 1928-1931
• R. I. Walston, 1931-1932
• Samuel T. Slaton, 1932-35
• Guy McGowan, 1935-1939
• O. K. Lamb, 1939-1940
• D. C. McNutt, 1940-1944
• J. S. Christian, 1944-1948
• Calvin M. Pinkard, 1948-1960
• R. Edwin Kimbrough, 1960-1970
• E. L. McFee, 1970-1982
• Monroe Lewis, 1982-1989
• Gary Hearin, 1989-1993
• Billy York, 1993-1997
• Andrew Wolfe, 1997-2015
• Brian Erickson, current

References

• Wheeler, Annie Ford (1989) Trinity United Methodist Church, 1889-1989. Homewood: Trinity United Methodist Church
• Schnorrenberg, John (March 1996) "The Churches of Edgewood" walking tour notes. Birmingham Historical Society

External links

• Trinity United Methodist Church website