Woodlawn United Methodist Church
Woodlawn United Methodist Church, founded in 1887, is a United Methodist Church located at the corner of 1st Avenue North and 55th Street in Woodlawn. It was once one of the largest congregations in the North Alabama Conference, with around 2,500 members at its peak in the 1950s. The current pastor is Larry Horne, who leads a congregation of about 270 members.
The church met in a wood-framed building for 25 years before constructing a large, limestone sanctuary in 1912. The first services were held in the new building on October 27 of that year, with a 60-voice choir and a string ensemble providing music. The building was constructed of gray limestone with a steep gabled roof and two monumental stairways giving access to the main floor from the street. A dark-stained wood balcony wrapped around three sides of the nave, which was divided by two main aisles. The much-acclaimed stained glass windows filled tall pointed-arch openings in the vaulted ceiling. The corner tower housed the church bells and was capped, at first, by a tall steeple roof. The steeple was replaced by a lower pyramidal roof before 1920. The front stairways were later reconfigured to accommodate the widening of 1st Avenue.
The church provides space for Cornerstone Schools of Alabama, Outreach Incorporated, Youth Works, and the Woodlawn Christian Center as part of its community outreach ministry.
On the afternoon of May 31, 2009 a fire broke out in the church's basement just as a group from Bethel Metropolitan Community Church was beginning a communion service. All members of the group got out safely, but the church building could not be saved from the fire which quickly consumed the roof structure. The Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service was able to prevent the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings and to control the collapse of the church as they fought through the afternoon.
References
- Stock, Erin & Victoria L. Coman (June 1, 2009) "Fire destroys Woodlawn United Methodist church, which was constructed in 1912." Birmingham News
External links
- Woodlawn United Methodist Church website